Pokemon: The Quest
by Tel Loiryn
Summary: An original trainer story. Genre: Darker realism. Deadly, fast-paced pokemon battles. Powerful Rockets abducting pokemon and people. 13-year-old budding psychic Ash vows to take on the massive syndicate after losing his pokemon and his sister to them.
1. Getting Started

**Foreword**

The Quest: An Original New-Trainer Story

(aka. A Novel Novel-Novice Novel )

This is my own rewrite of the Pokemon "gotta be the best"-type storyline and universe. It will be a significantly more realistic and hence darker version of the high fantasy that is Pokemon. This will NOT include simplistic battle scenes like that found in the game, just like the anime isn't. To make it more understandable, Pokemon are able to speak as well as think (this is a 3rd person omniscient work).

Type advantages are different from that of Pokemon canon. Some important ones are:

Fire over Dark over Psychic over Fighting over Normal over Ghost over Psychic

Electric over Steel over Rock, Ground over Electric over Water over Fire over Plant, Bug over Psychic, Dark

Ice over Ice, Rock over Normal over Water over Ground under Flying under Electric

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_this_ is thinking to oneself.

((this)) is telepathic communication.

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**With that said, sit back, relax, read, review, and enjoy!**

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General Disclaimer

I don't own Pokemon; this fanfic is not for commercial purposes.

However, I own this story, and the characters and storylines therein.

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**Part I: Trainer**

**The Quest 1: Getting Started**

You all know the scene by now. The old low-resolution LCD screen of the Mk1 Nintendo Game Boy hand-held games console. Pokémon Blue is running. On the screen, a Gengar and a Rhydon are fighting it out in battle mode.

"Look Ash! I just beat Brock and got my first badge!" squealed an excited girl right next to him.

Ash Ketchum, 13, of Pallet Town, turned obligingly to cheer for the ten-year-old girl sitting on his bed and playing the Pokemon game, his hand propping up his chin as his eyes drooped. He found pokemon battles incredibly _boring_. His sister Kay – yes, that girl over there – however thought just the opposite. To her, battles of that sort were positively thrilling. Ever since her mom Delia had bought the game cartridge Kay had been addicted to those pixels… He shook his head and muttered in disapproval. Why, if he did not like fighting, did Kay enjoy it so much? She was a _girl _for crying out loud!

That was indulging in fantasies for her – in actuality, pokemon were – well, they were just different, and in many more ways than she would know at age ten.

Of course, that knowledge was tempered by the fact that Ash actually _had _a pokemon – his and Kay's guardian – to look after. (Not that there was much to guard _against._) The pokeball which could recall it at a moment's notice was at this moment stored somewhere under mounds of dust in the attic above, the Charmander having long forgotten what it was like to be in one. In fact, it was currently watching pokemon in the television downstairs – "Gotta catch 'em all!" it was called. Ash was sure there were about ten other series of the same genre that were playing simultaneously, all with broadcast stations in Jubilife City.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Ash turned to look at the alarm clock. Before he had focused on it, Delia came barging into the room. "It's ten! You two ought to go to sleep now! Remember, tomorrow's the big day!"

"Aww, but mom, I'm having such a good time right now! Can't I stay up for another ten minutes?" Kay whined. Ash humphed to himself. That should have been something he would be saying – in most families, that is. He was the exception that proved the rule.

This was as good a time as ever to get rid of his overly excited sister. "Kay, I'm going to sleep. You ought to go to your room now." Kay looked at him with a heart-tugging frown and left, sighing.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

RRRIIINNNGGGGGGGG!! RRRIIINNNGGGGGGGG!! RRRIIINNNGGGGGGGG!!

Ash bolted awake, looked around at the timer as if to reaffirm that it was eight o'clock, and rushed out of bed. That night he had spent a while looking through the attic – and couldn't find the buried pokeball. That meant he would have to waste one… Hurriedly getting dressed before rushing downstairs with such speed as to resemble a jackhammer (though not quite as loud).

"Hi Ash—" "Hi mom," said Ash in swift reply, before drinking his milk in such large gulps that made this throat seem as if it were about to break. When he was done he suddenly felt woozy from the sudden intake of liquid, but that did little to stop him from rushing out the door with nary a second thought, his faithful pokemon barely a step behind.

Pallet Town was a quiet place to live, and a nice place too – which meant that Ash and his family, being residents here, had to be above middle class. With backpack strapped on and a wallet with 3000 Kanto dollars in his wallet, he took off running to Professor Oak's laboratory. The laid-back professor, who also presided over the town's annual Novice Pokebelting Ceremony, was the only person there aside from his thirteen-year-old grandson Gary – and Ash's rival for more than a few years.

"Hey Ash, you got here early today!" It sounded like a compliment, until he finished: "but not as early as me!" he smiled warmly.

"Well, that's not fair, considering you were sleeping upstairs since the clock struck midnight," Ash retorted.

"Good call, good call," Gary responded, patting Ash on the back before taking a good look at that Charmander. "Seems like you're made for the Journey," he noted.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I'd estimate that Charmander as being at level 20. Well? Am I right?"

Ash's face blanched. How did Gary know, just by looking at his pokemon? Even Ash had to take his pokemon over to the town Poke-center for the machine to do a proper analysis to be sure of his guardian's level. And the last time he checked – about two weeks ago – he was at level 19. To be truthful, Ash himself didn't know his pokemon's level.

Gary took the period of silence to mean that Ash had agreed, and continued from there. "Not to be rude or anything, but working in a pokemon laboratory does have its upsides – and plenty at that."

"Well, the ceremony is about to begin," Ash hurriedly changed the topic. "I'm assuming that you, being so incredibly rich, already have gotten yourself a 24-karat poke-belt?"

"What are you, crazy?" Gary responded with a friendly tone. "We may be above-average when it comes to assets, but that doesn't mean I'll squander it all on useless gold ornamentation!" He pulled up his shirt slightly to reveal a split-leather belt. "Since the Journey involves going cross-country, I decided to get gear that could take the strain of travel. Remember when I ran away for a while? I got all the way to Cerulean City by myself and caught a handful of pokemon before deciding to return. Isn't that right, gramps?"

Professor Oak's face was red with embarrassment.

"Ah yes, I almost forgot about that," said Ash. "I and most of the other Novices only have one pokemon for our journey. You have…?"

"Oh of course, that wouldn't be fair now, would it? Novices are allowed to start off their journey with only one pokemon. Not that you couldn't hide some up your sleeve – figuratively – but I'm of course going to go with just one pokemon." He looked to the side and as if on cue a furry tan-brown rodent reminiscent of an oversized squirrel leapt happily into his arms.

"You're starting off with an Eevee! What's its level?" Ash asked, remembering that pokemon are neuter – they don't have a gender – until they metamorphose into their final forms.

"Well, this one was a level four the last time I checked it—" Gary looked at the Eevee intently. "Oh, you just grew a level, didn't you?" he suddenly lighted up and kissed the Eevee on its cheek, pleasantly delighting it.

DING-DONG!

The trio turned to look at the entrance to the lab. Only then did they realize how much time had passed since they first began conversing – it seemed as if all the other trainers-to-be had arrived on time! Within moments they were all in the reception room of the laboratory – a rather expansive building – and had sat down. Professor Oak went over to the podium and turned on the microphone.

"Today is a great day. Today is when you – all thirty six of you – will embark on your greatest Journey yet. All of you have demonstrated, by coming here today, that your calling is to become a pokemon trainer. Some of you may become breeders; others, keepers; others, tacticians; others, doctors, etcetera. But this Journey does not come without its hazards. Many trainers have died, and will continue to die, along this perilous Journey, whether it be from disease, hunger, or encounters with malicious pokemon. This journey may not be right for some of you. It may be too dangerous, too difficult, too tedious, may be the wrong career path for you, or you may not have learned enough about the pokemon native to our continent. If you have any doubts, please desist from participating in this Ceremony – we will not think any less of you. Once you go through with the Ceremony, you cannot turn back."

A long pause. As expected, none decided to quit.

"All right then, let us proceed with the ceremony. We will now proceed to state the oath." The camera in the back of the room activated. "Everyone raise your right hand and repeat after me.

"I will be the very best,  
To excel in all my ways.  
I shall seek first a path of honor,  
And follow all my days.  
For I shall not dishonor this calling,  
I will not lie, cheat or steal.  
And furthermore I shall never forget,  
That the Pokémon can feel.  
And so I shall go my way,  
Not as a master but as a friend.  
I shall be taught by my Pokémon,  
As much as I shall teach them.  
And I will remember this oath,  
Until I reach my Journey's end."

(((courtesy BenRG, "The Journey")))

A long lull of silence hung suspended over the room as everyone finished repeating the last line. They were now all pokemon trainers. Oak, with his assistant Gary, called upon each person in turn to ritually place a poke-belt around their waists.

"This concludes the Novice Pokebelting Ceremony. You are now officially pokemon trainers in the eyes of the Indigo League." Thereafter the individual trainers – all eager-eyed thirteen-year-olds – began to make conversation with each other. After all, they had a common goal and had lived in the same town as each other for years.

Ash inspected his new leather poke-belt and was satisfied when he saw five unassigned pokeballs attached to the belt. He pulled out one of them, and held it in front of his Charmander before speaking gently, "I lost your pokeball from three years go," said Ash. "We need you to have another one."

With that, he pressed the button on the ball two quick times – capture – and tossed the pokeball into the air. Charmander looked at the ball in breathless anticipation, but was not particularly worried, as these past few years it had come to trust deeply in its keeper. The moment the ball came in contact with the Charmander's skin, it opened up as it bounced back, and Charmander turned into a translucent reddish glow was sucked into the ball. Of its own accord the ball came levitating back into Ash's hand, much like a boomerang would.

The faithful Charmander had made no protest whatsoever; it didn't have to, as the next moment Ash had pressed the button once – in/out – and dropped it on the ground. It clicked open, and a white glow shot out, taking the form of Charmander. Within the second the pokemon had returned to normal, as if it had never been caught before. By that time the pokeball, as it always would, had returned to Ash's hand. He then put the ball back onto his belt.

"Hey, want to have a short, friendly match?" asked Gary.

Ash smiled, and led them to an unoccupied room in the laboratory. "Sure. Charmander, remember that this is a safe match, so don't hurt the opponent pokemon too badly, okay?" The pokemon nodded, then gave Gary a tense look. The Eevee pranced out from behind Gary's feet, looked at Charmander, and shuddered. Ash smiled yet again, recalling the great level disparity between his Charmander and Gary's Eevee – a solid fifteen levels. "You sure you want this match? Your Eevee's fur will be severely singed the moment my Charmander gets it."

"No chickening out for both of us," Gary replied curtly. "Eevee, this will be your first real match up against another trainer, but you'll do fine if you remember what I told you earlier. Now then – Tackle!"

Before Eevee had even started to move, Charmander had brought its tail – and the brightly burning fire on it – in front of his body, then proceeded to give Eevee a deathly leer that frightened it so badly it reeled back in anxiety. The next moment Charmander had opened its mouth, a torrent of fire blasting forth straight at the Eevee.

As the fire and smoke cleared, the Eevee was gone! All that remained where Eevee was standing was a burnt spot on the ground, where the tiling had partially melted away and tangled up. Ash cried out in dismay. He had inadvertently burned Eevee beyond a crisp, and now it was worse than dead! "Oh my goodness, Gary—" he didn't know what to say at this point…

Until he saw that Gary didn't look worried at all. A flick of the wrist, and the pokeball went flying right beside Charmander. Eevee appeared, and immediately tackled the Charmander from below, sending the eighty-pound reptile toward the ceiling. Ash looked up – and saw that smoke from Charmander's fires had reached the fire detector, which began shrieking –

The next moment water began shooting out of each of the built-in fire extinguishers built into the ceiling. The reptile, whose life depended on the tail fire continually burning, immediately began sneezing the moment water began streaming over its scaly orange body. By the time Ash recalled his pokemon into his pokeball, the fire on its tail was less intense. Ash talked to the pokeball, "Charmander, you okay? I'll get you treated right away."

Then he looked up at Gary and realized that he had just lost his first match since becoming an official pokemon trainer, and against a pokemon one fourth the level of his Charmander at that. It was humiliating and depressing…

"Good match," said Gary to comfort him. "I think it's about time you evolved him. A Charmander isn't good in water, no matter how little water. And don't forget to take advantage of your surroundings. I would never have challenged your Charmander with my Eevee if we were outdoors."

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The Poke-Center in Pallet Town was a small but still imposing building run by a single Nurse Joy (of a family of innumerable beautiful daughters and sisters all named Joy and in the same profession). All the Nurse Joys had made a pact to be more easily recognized across the continent, a pact that included their all dying their hair pinkish-red and tying them into balanced loops. Ash came in and handed Nurse Joy his pokeball. Then, he took a pen and signed the contract for medical treatment.

This was a one-page document specifying that his pokemon would be treated for free on one condition. It was a great deal, as everyone agreed, because the treatment often ran into the thousands of Kanto dollars, and the condition was nearly nothing. The Poke-Center would be allowed to extract certain secretions in the treated pokemon – secretions that by themselves were useless but when combined with those of fifty other types of pokemon yielded potions and heals of unbelievably powerful properties.

It had been what originally set off the first rush to catch pokemon in Kanto: the discovery that these secretions, when mixed, could be used to treat not just pokemon but people as well, and do so with no side effect. Indeed, the search was currently on to find and keep as many uncommon and rare types of pokemon as possible to further the field of medicine. Rumors of a resurrection potion began circulating shortly after the development and mass success of the first full restore mere years ago…

"Here you go, your Charmander is all healed," said Nurse Joy with a rosy smile. "You seem like you have just begun your Journey. Are you in need of supplies?" Without waiting for an answer, she showed Ash an abridged list of items for sale:

Pokeball – 199.99

Greatball ™ - 599.99

Ultraball ™ - 1199.99

1 Spray of Standard Potion - 149.99

1 Spray of All-Purpose Antidote Potion - 199.99

1 Spray of Burn Heal Potion - 299.99

1 Spray of Paralyze Heal Potion - 349.99

1 Spray of Thawing Potion - 49.99

1 Spray of All-Purpose Full Heal Potion ™ - 699.99

1 Spray of Revive Potion ™ - 1499.99

1 Spray of Restore Potion ™ - 2499.99

Potion Spray-bottle - 9.99

Stale Rations - 9.99

Poke-meal ™ - 29.99

Adventurer's Meal ™ - 14.99

Abra's Escape-Rope ™ - 699.99

(See what I mean by medicine being pricey?)

"I guess I'll forgo the brand-name items and stick with the generics," Ash said meekly as he counted the 3000.00 he had. He already had the food and spraying equipment in his backpack. "One spray of antidote and ten sprays of standard potion, please."

"That'll be 1801.89 after tax."

"Well, guess I'm ready to go it alone," Ash said glumly to the released Charmander.

"Don't be so lonely," said the Charmander, before blowing a jet of hot air out its mouth to bring Ash out of his moody state. Trouble was, for the next several minutes he was in an overly panicked state…

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"Mom! I'm home!" shouted Ash with abandon as he and his Charmander approached his house. There was, however, no reply. Considering the fact that school was out, that was unusual. "Hello? Anyone home?" Still no answer.

Now in a bit of a panic, Ash opened the front door and the two proceeded to look for his mom Delia and his sister Kay (Michael, his father, having died long ago.) Their search across the first floor was fruitless, so they rushed upstairs, Ash now having troubled thoughts along the lines of _what horrible thing had happened to them while I was gone?_

He was so preoccupied with this thought that he didn't notice Delia and Kay jumping out to greet him. "Surprise! Happy Voyages, Ash!" they shouted in his face simultaneously, causing him to backpedal and collapse on top of a stunned Charmander. Ash couldn't respond as Kay continued, "I'm going to miss you so much, big brother, I hope you come back soon, because otherwise I'll… I'll have to do all the dishes and other chores!" wailed Kay in utter dismay as she broke out crying. Ash sweatdropped as Delia then proceeded to nearly smother him in a massive hug before proceeding to announce, "I'll miss you just as much, my little baby, to think you're going off already and we won't even know when you'll come back… You'll return to visit us at least once every year, and remember to call us every town you get to, right? And don't forget to take good care of your pokemon, and don't forget to rest often and enough, and don't forget to brush your teeth, and don't forget to not talk much with strangers, and don't forget that there are people in the world who will take advantage of you, and don't forget that your goal is to be a good pokemon trainer, and don't forget the oath you made back at the laboratory, and don't forget that you have a mother and sister here who will be waiting to hear back from you every day, and don't forget that you have to brush your hair too, and…" his mom finally stopped, totally out of breath.

An utterly embarrassed Ash replied, "Oh, give me a break, I'm _thirteen_ already, I'm _not _a toddler, you know…"

Utterly unashamed, Delia finished panting, "Oh, but dearie, you'll always be my little baby to me—", causing Ash to sweatdrop yet again.


	2. Fire and Water

**The Quest 2: Fire and Water**

It was now afternoon. After having said a tearful final farewell with his family, Ash Ketchum turned his sights northward, to the city, roughly twenty leagues away, that everyone knew as Viridian City. Twenty leagues – that was exactly two day's journey, if he managed to go three miles per hour for ten hours a day…

He took out a map. "Here's our plan," Ash told Charmander. "We go to Viridian, get the Earth Badge, go to Pewter, get the Rock Badge, go to Cerulean, get the Cascade Badge, go to Vermilion, get the Thunder Badge, go to Saffron, get the Soul Badge, get to Celadon, get the Rainbow Badge, go to Fuchsia, get the Marsh Badge, get to Cinnabar, get the Volcano Badge, return to Pallet to say hi, then on to the Indigo League!" he panted after he finished; that was a mouthful!

He had just come across a road sign an hour ago. It was large, and had a billboard section on it as well, where people could write non-commercial things. For example, all thirty-five other Novice trainers leaving Pallet Town today had taken the occasion to scribble "X was here!" on the sign. To further his dismay, Gary wasn't the second last person to leave, even though he too had been delayed by the battle. His message had been, "Gary was here! – with his formerly lvl. 5 Eevee that gained three levels defeating a lvl. 20 Charmander!" At least he hadn't added injury to insult by writing down the name of the keeper of that Charmander… Ash had groaned in disgust at himself.

Remembering that just now, he told the reptile that had been following him all morning, "all right, no more hiding from it. We need to get you some real combat experience and training, Charmander, or else a level three grass-type pokemon will defeat you too." He turned around as he heard a disturbance, and caught sight of a pokemon with a petite blue body for a face and a handful of wide leaves sprouting out the top. "Like that Oddish right there."

Charmander raised itself up to its full height and growled at the Oddish. In a hurry, it slapped its extremely green leaves about, ejecting the morning dewdrops toward Charmander's tail. Remembering how badly it had been diseased by the water from the fire extinguisher, the orange fire-breather instinctively rushed away, hiding behind its keeper. "Aww come on, Charmander, you're level twenty, you must be ten times that wild Oddish's level, for crying out loud! At it!"

The Charmander refused.

"What do you mean, you're going to keep away from grass types – against whom you have the greatest advantage – because of some _dew_? Look, I know you have an instinctive phobia against water, but you've _got_ to overcome it somehow! And there's no better opportunity than the present! Charmander, I'll get you a little something for a reward if you take down that weakling right there, I know you can do it! Flaming Breath!"

Cheered on by Ash's words, the Charmander grew more daring and took a step toward the Oddish, a big grin spreading on its face when it realized that the Oddish had already tossed all the dew off its leaves. "You've got nothing to defeat me with," he told it, then opened his mouth.

A torrent of destructive firepower came pouring out, smothering the plant pokemon awash with its searing heat and quickly reducing its leaves to burnt ashes. The plant stopped, dropped, and rolled, trying ineffectually to put out the fire. Instead, it grew, spreading to the knee-high grasses that covered the plains stretching from Pallet to Viridian.

Sensing an opportunity to snare a pokemon, Ash extracted a spare pokeball and tossed it, with perfect aim, at the unconscious pokemon, sucking it into the ball effortlessly before it returned, with its prize, back in Ash's hand. Yet that wasn't what was capturing his attention. "Oh… no…" said Ash portentously, as the wildfire began to spread and heat up the surroundings. "We should have captured a water pokemon first," he lamented, not noticing Charmander's flinch at the word 'water'. Then an idea came to him. "Charmander! You're a fire type, I bet your scaly skin can absorb fire and take its heat without trouble! _You _can put out that fire?" he concluded hopefully.

"How?" asked Charmander.

"Do what the Oddish had been doing earlier – stop, drop, and roll!"

"You do it, then," Charmander said arrogantly.

"What, you want me to get myself burnt into a crisp? I'm not food for a barbeque party! Go on..."

The Charmander approached the flame of its own making, and realized that it was not unbearably hot. It touched the flame and did not feel any pain. After that it took a few seconds of rolling here and there like a baby basking in the meadow before the fire was put out. "Whew, that was close," Ash said melodramatically. "I don't know, while we're in the grasslands I don't think your fire is that good of an asset."

Charmander growled piteously.

"But hey, here's the reward," Ash said, holding out the second filled pokeball. "Oddish will now be your little brother… or sister… or whichever it may turn out to be…" he sweatdropped at the ridiculousness of his own statement. "At least, once we get it healed, you get to be its teacher. Would you like that?" he asked with a smile. Charmander replied in kind. "Oh look up ahead, it's a lake! Perfect timing," he said to himself. "That'll give me a chance to cool off from all the walking we did today."

As they approached the water's edge, Charmander became ever less confident of himself. When they got to the very edge, Charmander was refusing to get any closer, while Ash was pulling him toward it, closer, and closer… "Oh come on, Charmander, this is what you need a trainer for: to do things that you need to do in order to learn but you wouldn't be willing to do yourself. I promise that it'll be all right," said Ash. Charmander growled softly in protest.

The next moment Ash, still with all his clothes on, jumped into the water without any warning, eagerly getting all messy with water and mud. Droplets splashed all over, sending frightened Charmander scurrying back. "Charmander, you'll need to get better at withstanding water if you're to stand any chance as my guardian. Just think about it: anyone out to harm me will certainly see you and decide to use a water-type. It's unavoidable. Now get back over here, and prepare for another splashing," said Ash as he got out and prepared to dive again.

This time the water from the splash smothered a bit of the flame on Charmander's tail, and it started sneezing and wheezing. "We're not done yet," Ash said to preclude Charmander from leaving just yet. "Don't you trust me, after these four years as your keeper? When have I ever done anything to intentionally harm you? We're not done until you can withstand water."

Charmander leered at him, causing Ash to instinctively shout in fear. "That's like telling you to swallow poison willingly," it replied. "I can drink water, but I can't be near it in any other way."

"Yes you can," said Ash determinedly, before starting to float on the water. All of a sudden he started splashing his feet through the water surface, sending water meter-high and all over Charmander, who began quivering with fear. "I know it's hard for you to take it and all that, but you've got to practice. Tell you what – we're not leaving this place until you can show me that you can withstand getting hit by water."

The next moment another wave of water had struck Charmander. It instinctively placed its tail behind its back so as to shield it from the water.

"Look, a fire doesn't go out with a single light splash of water, Charmander. You really don't have that much to be afraid of."

"Stop it! This is torture!" said Charmander, making weird noises that Ash knew meant that it was crying – no, begging – to have it all stop.

"We _can't_ stop, don't you know what it means to be so terrified of water? Seven tenths of the planet surface is _water_!" With that, he used his hands to launch another splash of water at Charmander. Realizing that Charmander wasn't getting the practice it needed when it hid its tail, Ash began using both hands to splash water, and from different angles. Terrified, Charmander fled away from the water's edge – that is, until the pokeball struck it on the back and sucked it back in.

A short while later, Charmander found himself reappearing – on a stone island surrounded by water. It was still the same lake. It sank in dismay – but erected and yelped in surprise as another series of splashes struck against its scaly skin. "You've been doing great, Charmander, I won't let you fail now!" And for the next several minutes Charmander kept dancing about, trying to prevent the water from putting out the fire on its tail. It kept getting closer and closer to doing just that every time, it realized with dismay. The waves of water that Ash was sending up kept getting larger and fiercer. And Charmander was stuck on the rock with nowhere to go, nowhere to escape…

The steam continued to form. Water and fire kept mixing. Charmander had attempted to use leer against its keeper several times, but Ash gradually became inured to it and knew that Charmander wouldn't, and couldn't, hurt him anyway. Then Charmander had progressed to using his fire breath to turn the water into steam before it could get on his tail, and of course moving the tail away when possible. It tried an assortment of tactics – alternating jumping with ducking, bashing the splashes of water with its limbs, placing the tail exactly behind its back. And then Ash submerged into the now muddy water, only to reappear behind the Charmander and splash more water. This trial of terror continued for much of the afternoon, and dragged on into evening… Charmander was absolutely terrified that it was about to die. Its instincts came to it for a reason.

But Ash could see that Charmander was making incredibly fast progress. Already the splashes of water were becoming ineffective against his guardian.

Suddenly, a splash of water entirely smothered the fire on the tail. Ash was the first to notice this nearly fatal occurrence. But he was utterly relieved a split second later when the fire reformed from all the steam, venting out of the pokemon's tail. Ash found himself smiling at last – there was hope yet for Charmander! As he looked on, the regularly evenly burning tail fire began to shrink and grow at Charmander's will – and shrank whenever it sensed another wave of water coming. The fire somehow retracted inside the tail when the water came over it…

"Charmander, stop hiding your tail now. You've developed enough water-avoidance techniques already. Put the tail in front of your body." Charmander, slightly unnerved still, did as it was told – and this time when Ash splashed the water, the fire went out completely, only to flare back to life a split second later.

Suddenly a blinding bluish-white light enveloped Charmander. Ash knew exactly what it was at the onset, as the pokemon's brilliant silhouette began to enlarge and morph. It was undergoing its first metamorphosis! Soon it had changed entirely, into a red-skinned reptile that was slightly larger than Ash was, and far more threatening than a Charmander. Its tail flame grew to many times its previous size and was now the size of Ash's head.

"Charmeleon! You've done it! You've done it at last!" Ash said delightedly. That was, until Charmeleon and its notoriously bad temper decided to send a flaming breath his way. It would have seriously hurt Ash, if he had been as unfortunate as to not get underwater in time.

"I may have evolved, but that's nothing for you to be happy about," remarked Charmeleon, half-leering at a terrified Ash. "How would you like it if you were stranded on an island in the middle of a lava lake and a Charizard played flamethrower games with you? HUH??"

Ash gulped, then held up both arms as if in surrender. "It's your call, Charmeleon, you're bigger than me. But seeing as you're not Charizard, you're still stranded on this island, and you're going to keep being stuck on this rock until you've mastered water enough to swim safely to shore. And don't forget, I may be tough, but I mean the best for you. Always remember that." And with that, a panicky Ash swam underwater toward shore until he was sure that Charmeleon wouldn't be able to burn him.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The next day, Ash continued this training routine – or at least until he suffered a major burn from a beyond-irritated Charmeleon. Then he decided to do some training with Oddish – after all, there was little else to do. Taking out the pokeball, he clicked the button one time to release the still-unconscious and half-shriveled pokemon. Despite the fact that it had been knocked out, it was still growing, and Ash was lucky to have chosen as his first grass-type opponent one that had plenty of nutrients in the blue tuber to draw upon while its photosynthesis was down. Now the new leaves were growing back.

Taking out the standard potions, he connected them to the spraying device and used it on his second pokemon. The first dose did little good, though parts of Oddish's terribly maimed body began magically drawing back together and healing over. He mentally slapped himself for having not bought a burn cure despite knowing that he had a fire-type pokemon with him. And as for the potion… well, one seemed to have done nearly nothing, which meant that Oddish's situation was terrible indeed. He didn't want to waste expensive medications if they wouldn't be of much use, since the Poke-Center in every city offered medical services for nigh-free…

Looking out at the water, he saw his Charmeleon attempt to go into the water. It was a lot angrier than it was before the transformation, but it was also much more sure of itself. Ash smiled warmly as he knew that every minute, his Charmeleon was making progress against its greatest foe.

Charmeleon stepped into the water, but after a few steps – during which it kept its tail high and dry – its feet couldn't find the ground anymore. The water was too deep, and Charmeleon had no idea of how to swim. Retreating to the safety of the rock, it attempted to strengthen, via its own training, his own tail, and to overcome its own fear of water. The tail went down and touched the water's surface, then it came back up.

_Darn that horrid trainer of mine,_ it thought as shivers traversed his body from that latest attempt. _This just may turn out to be the death of me. If I ever get off this rock I'm going to exact some vengeance. _And vengeance for a Charmeleon was _serious _business..

Charmeleon then tried again. Although the chills sweeped through its body, it had by this time gotten partially inured to the cold sensation. He kept his tail going down and decreased the burning at the tip, so that it wouldn't lapse into hypothermia. The flame went out the moment it entered the water, but then Charmeleon brought it back out. Somehow the strength it had gained from its metamorphosis meant that it wasn't quite as stricken by the plague of water. It tried again. And again. And, of course, again… Until it could keep the tail in water for a full ten seconds, and still light it up. It was akin to a human holding one's breath – but for a _long _time.

Driven by its desire to punish its negligent trainer, Charmeleon continued to practice and practice…

Until it actually went into the water, lost its footing, and slipped… and the tail stayed in the water for much too long. With its last energy reserves, Charmeleon managed to crawl back to the rock, utterly defeated, before passing out.

It awoke mere moments later, all warm and cozy inside, the fire burning strong and steady. _How did I get into this situation? _It asked itself. Then it spotted three used potion containers abandoned by its side, and then it spotted Ash swimming away, evidently too afraid of Charmeleon's fiery – pun intended – temper.

_Maybe I have to re-evaluate my view of that human over there… He does seem to care about me. If he didn't, like I had thought earlier, why would he have come to rescue me? Earlier he had only used a single potion on the Oddish before giving up, but he used three on me, and it paid off… _

And thereafter, Charmeleon was confused, too confused to get its anger aroused, but it continued striving to break through the water barrier. Learning how to swim was hard business, and Charmeleon had never bothered to learn, so it improvised, using its limbs to dogpaddle and stay afloat so that every once in a while it could submerge its face and allow its tail out of the water and re-combust.

And gradually, it built up the confidence to break out of its watery prison. Step by step, attempt by attempt, failure by failure, it struck out toward the other shore, alternating every few seconds between dogpaddling with the tail submerged and floating with the tail raised up high and burning bright.

And finally, when the sun was beginning to set yet again, it managed to get to shore! It was immensely pleased with itself for having concocted up such a fabulous scheme to get ashore. And now if only it could get to Ash, it would tear him apart-

Instead, a brilliant light enveloped it, it was trapped inside the ball yet again, before reappearing on that same rock. "You were magnificent right there, you did what you thought couldn't be done," said Ash in congratulations. Not that Charmeleon seemed to have heard; instead, it was riled up with anger, and immediately took to the water, chasing Ash, who quickly noticed and swam away as fast as he could, knowing he had just gotten himself into a lot of trouble.

Ash climbed ashore at last, and turned around – only to duck right before a column of fire struck out right over him. The Charmeleon was right behind him, having mastered its own form of swimming and life preservation, and even mastered its fear of water… Oh, this was terrific, it had mastered this in just two days… except that Charmeleon was now _frightfully _angry. A single leer from that reptile, and Ash was frozen in place, too terrified to even move…

Four years of living together flashed through his mind. This was no time to flee from one's own guardian! Recovering his courage, he began thinking rapidly, as Charmeleon approached rapidly, ready to strike down its trainer.

Finally, Ash decided on something to say. "You were terrific, Charmeleon! In just two days you managed to master your fear of water! You're absolutely wonderful, you know that? I'm very proud of you. Proud that you were able to continue against all that water, proud that you kept going on despite knowing that your very life was at risk, proud that you had devised your own way of swimming, proud that you had taken to heart my lesson on not giving up, proud that you had metamorphosed, and above all, proud of who you are! And I am equally proud to be the one who showed you just what it meant to be trained to do something great! Do you recognize that?"

Charmeleon, though quite in a rage, had become quite a bit mellower during the course of that speech. After all, successful, powerful pokemon had a weak spot for praise. It still had a bit of anger left, so it blew out a torrent of greatly heated air straight at Ash, who responded by diving head-first into the water and getting mud all over his face.

But at least Charmeleon had been reconciled, and that to Ash was worth it.

Knowing that Charmeleon had been able to overcome the water, Ash led the way northward, to Viridian City.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

A totally wearied out Ash and a still very irritated (as always) Charmeleon toppled into the sofa in the Viridian City Poke-Center two days later. Another Nurse Joy (one worked in every Poke-Center in Kanto) came up to them worriedly. "Are you all right?" she asked, before recalling Charmeleon into its pokeball and taking both occupied ones to the treatment machine.

"Huh? Yeah," said Ash as he bolted upright. "I think we just need a nap. We've got a lot of resting to do, considering we'll have to take on the Viridian City Gym today."

"Oh, sleep tight then," Nurse Joy replied caringly. "Your pokemon will be ready when you wake up." Before she had finished, Ash had crumpled back onto the sofa and made himself comfortable. That is, until he saw out the corner of his eye a poster on the wall. It seemed to be a list of signatures… a petition?

That got his attention… though he wished the next moment that he hadn't, since it was a list of "new Novices from Pallet that have reached Viridian City." This time Gary was closing to the top of the list – and on top of that, he already had six pokemon! He scanned the number of names – _darn, we came in last,_ he thought to himself. _Oh well, it was time well spent. I bet none of the others have a Charmander who can withstand water. _Then his conscience retorted: _I bet none of the others even had a need to teach a Charmander how to withstand water. They probably are so good trainers their Charmanders never faced any water in a battle. _He looked at the time of the last person's signature… to add injury to insult, the thirty-fifth Novice from Pallet this year had not only arrived before Ash, but had arrived two days earlier. He was three standard deviations behind the mean…

_I'll show them!_ He thought to himself. _Time to take on the first gym leader!_

"Here are your pokemon, all in top-perfect condition!" Nurse Joy exclaimed sweetly. "Your Oddish is level 2,"

Ash interrupted this with an "Awwh!" and a sweatdrop. So Charmander _did _concede to a grass-type one tenth its level…

"…And your Charmeleon is level 29," Nurse Joy finished.

"WHAT!?" Ash exclaimed in surprise. "But… just four days ago it was level 20! How could it improve _that _fast?"

Nurse Joy smiled. "I'll bet that it metamorphosed during that time, didn't it?"

"Err… yes," Ash conceded, recalling how Charmander had suddenly began improving.

"Well, that'll be able to explain five levels. For most pokemon, metamorphosis greatly strengthens their constitution, so that they gain an immediate five levels. Remember, the machine measures levels via a combination of a pokemon's physical resilience, maturity, and gland secretions. The first and third categories shoot up when a pokemon metamorphoses."

"What about the other four levels?"

"Four levels in four days is pretty good for a trainer, especially since it was in the level twenties. It's not all that common nor rare for trainers to improve their pokemon at that rate if they kept training them. At lower levels, it's not unheard of for pokemon to gain two levels in one day, three with intensive training. At even higher levels it will take considerably more effort to train them. Either you were a pretty good trainer or your pokemon had been missing out on a pretty important concept for a long time that you only recently got around to teaching."

"Gee, thanks, that'll get me ready for my gym battle—"

Though I don't think taking on Giovanni is such a good idea. Most Pallet Novices decide to take on Brock, of the Pewter City gym, first, because all that's working for rock-types is a rock-solid defense."

"Hey, if I'm going to become a top trainer I've got to take on _someone,_ _someday,_ so why not now?" Ash asked with a smile. Charmeleon assented, breathing fire out its nostrils.

"Well in that case, good luck!" said Nurse Joy, before rushing to attend to an emergency case. "Oh, what has Giovanni done to this poor Rattata!" she exclaimed in heartfelt sadness.


	3. A Lily In Distress

**The Quest 3: A Lily in Distress**

Now, Ash knew that the gym leaders didn't fight matches with their pokemon the way they were presented as doing so in the "Gotta catch 'em all" line of video games that were on the consumer market. For one, pokemon didn't fight one at a time; it was all out. Second, fights weren't to the finish; often the loser was the one who lost a pokemon first and wanted to save face or else avoid a crushing defeat by an overpowered opponent. Third, they were _fast._ They hardly gave you any time to think.

And of course, gym leaders were supposed to be master tacticians who knew how to utilize pokemon the best. Ash was a Novice with no badges. So supposedly, he wasn't worth dirt to this so-named Giovanni.

The Viridian City gym was a towering structure, several dozen meters tall, wider than it was tall, and longer than it was wide. Inside, Ash found himself in a stadium complete with audience benches – some of which were filled – all around the sides, and powerful stadium lights illuminating the playing field. What was eye-catching was that the center looked a total mess. There was dirt and debris everywhere, even the markings of the edge of the field were buried under upturned sand, and rocks scattered the landscape. Two trainers were currently standing on two sides of the field; one was in a business-man's suit and looked smug (Ash assumed him to be Giovanni) and the other was a thirteen-year-old acquaintance from back at Pallet – one of the new Novices – who was scampering from place to place as the earth perpetually cracked, re-shifted, or erupted from below. There was no a single pokemon in the arena, though there were many holes and tunnel exits all over the place.

_I'm supposed to fight on THAT field?_

Ash looked uncertainly at Charmeleon, who looked back, just as uncertain but quite ready to take its rage out on any opponents.

Suddenly a Nidoran was thrown erupting out of what Ash presumed was a below-ground tunnel network. It crashed into the ceiling before tumbling back to earth, and Ash winced as he heard a terrible cracking of bones. _What attack was that?_ He didn't have long to wonder, however, as the announcer proclaimed in the middle of nonstop coverage of the match, "And Giovanni's Sandstorm uses a wonderful combination of Dig and Seismic Toss to smash the opposition!"

He was greeted by a stark silence. The audience was chillingly quiet, shocked by the fact that this Nidoran was _dead _– or, if not dead, had its spinal cord snapped so that it would soon be dead. The Novice trainer forfeited, rushed over to hug his pokemon, and began crying out loud as he recalled his near-dead pokemon and rushed as fast as his legs could carry him to the Poke-Center next door.

"Next?" challenged Giovanni. Ash looked on as several others – mostly people he recognized from back at Pallet Middle School – exchanged questioning, dubious, and scared glances.

"Do you want to fight against him?" Ash asked Charmeleon, crestfallen. _There's no way I can defeat someone with pokemon that skilled, in a field that works totally to the advantage of his earth pokemon!_

To his relief, Charmeleon acquiesced. Together, they slunk out of the gym, deciding to forgo this particular badge until later and go on to Pewter City and try his luck out there. _Though I doubt it will be any easier than this…._

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

They were lost in Viridian Forest. As Ash took out his map for the ninth time that day, he tried once again to get his bearings. _How did I become so slack as to get lost? _He mentally whipped himself. _This is pathetic. A pokemon trainer and his pokemon, lost in the woods! We've been out and about for three days since Viridian City and we still have yet to see a single road. This was all my stupid idea to be off catching pokemon… _

On every tree they passed by, Charmeleon left several scratch marks so that should they end up going in a circle they would realize it. So far, though, they hadn't.

Suddenly, they came across a Caterpie. Upon making eye contact, it squealed in fear, then proceeded to rush back the way it came, moving pretty quickly for a bug half a foot long. "Oh well, guess we ought to get something if we can't get to the road," Ash said, eyes lighting up in expectation. "Charmeleon, get your practice!" Instantly Charmeleon leapt in pursuit, with Ash following. They came upon a tree covered in Caterpies and Metapods, which, for the moment seemed too intent on leaf-chewing to notice him.

"Well, how about that!" Ash sounded delighted. "A whole lot of pokemon to catch!" In a flash he had an unassigned pokeball out, and would have tossed it if it weren't for a high-pitched, feminine scream from just nearby.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you!"

"Huh? Who was that?" Ash and Charmeleon both looked around, utterly confused. "Where are you?" he called out.

"I'm over here!" the girl screamed.

"Huh?!" Ash looked up – and saw that a girl was indeed up in the tree, fifty feet above them, mostly hidden from view in all the foliage. "What are you doing up there?"

"What do you think I'm doing, I can't do _anything! _She screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Wow, she sounds like she's in trouble," Ash noted, mind whirring furiously in trying to find a way to resolve this problem. "Hold on, we're coming for you!" Ash and Charmeleon both turned to look at the tree right next to them. "Think you can climb that? Without setting the tree on fire?" Charmeleon nodded. "All right then, take it easy…"

"Oww…" said Ash as he lost his footing and fell from ten feet up. "I… don't think I can make it. I'm no good at climbing trees!"

"Just get me down, you slowpokes!"

"Hey, we're not pokemon!" Ash retorted angrily.

"I think she wants us to leave her alone," Charmeleon added with an angry smile. "I think we should oblige her on that."

"What—NO! That's NOT what I meant! Get me down!"

"After I catch a Metapod," said Ash, remembering why he had come here. These shiny green cocoons would soon turn into wonderfully useful and pretty Butterfrees… "You just wait."

"No, don't you DARE!" the girl screamed.

"Why not?" after finding a Metapod whose back had already started splitting open, revealing the bluish-white glow of metamorphosis in progress, Ash tossed a third pokeball at it. The moment it struck the hard shell, it opened up, sending out a flash of red light. The light impacted the Metapod, but to no effect, and the pokeball returned to Ash's hands. "What the…?"

His words were drowned out by the sudden sound of a klaxon wailing. Now everything in this part of the forest was wide awake…

Ash rushed over to the fake, metallic Metapod and cracked it open, revealing a pressure alarm system. "Oh no, someone's set a trap here," he realized a moment too late. Just then, two black-robed figures appeared, looking equally menacing. Then they took up awkward poses and chanted, alternating their lines, something that was part song and part motto:

"To infect the world with devastation,"

"To blight all people in every nation,"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love,"

"To extend our wrath to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

A Rhydon thumped up from the bushes between them and let out a roar. "THAT'S RIGHT!!" it boomed.

"Team Rocket!?" exclaimed the girl, still up in the trees far above. "I didn't know you were still here! Isn't leaving me to my fate all alone up here good enough for you two?" she whined. "You scum of the earth, you used me for trainer-bait, didn't you!" She struggled, making some rustling sounds, but other than that it was quite futile.

"

"See Jessie, I was right with regards to our plan," said the male. "Now, hand over those poke-balls, _twerp, _or you'll suffer the consequences."

"Not a chance!" Ash suddenly found himself looking into the barrels of two guns. "Err… on second thought, take whatever you want…" sweat formed all over his forehead as he raised his hands in surrender.

"That's more like it!" said Jessie, taking out a poke-ball and easily capturing the suddenly too-obedient Charmeleon without trouble, while James proceeded to pat down Ash and take away his pokeballs. "And now, you can join your friend up there and get us some more unlucky people. Go, Spinarak!" A reddish, tarantula-like pokemon materialized and quickly set to work binding Ash in its tough silk. Moments later, it had clambered up the tree and began _pulling _Ash up with incredible ease.

Only when he had been pulled up to the top and stung with a paralyzing sting was Ash able to see the girl for the first time. She was one of the quiet ones back at Pallet, he recalled. Always left out of the loop because of her shyness, Lily possessed an alluring face that was both cute and beautiful, as well as a svelte, petite frame. But right now she looked like a total disaster, with numerous bruises and cuts, and her hair was a dangling golden mess. Around her was wrapped the same silken tangle that now bound Ash, and although Lily was able to exercise her muscles, the bonds were just too strong. He wasn't sure, but Ash believed that he had just fallen in lust for her… _maybe_…

Soon, the footsteps of Team Rocket had receded, where to no one knew, and Ash felt free to begin talking. "So… what's going to happen now?"

"What'll happen now? I'll starve to death, that's what! And all because you were so caught up in catching pokemon you didn't think of rescuing me first!" she shouted fiercely at him.

"Hey, whoa, it was your fault you were being so nasty to me earlier, calling me a slowpoke and all that," retorted Ash.

"So what?"

"So!? If you had been _nice,_ like damsels in distress ought to, maybe I would not have decided to catch that alarm of a Metapod."

"YOU! So it's all MY fault, IS it? Why you—" Lily attempted to kick him, but flailed futilely against the bonds that were holding her in place.

"We're in this situation, and you're still thinking of blaming each other? Get a grip, Lily!" exclaimed Ash worriedly. "Okay, I admit, it wasn't all your fault, I was to blame too, I should have been more careful…I'm sorry… Okay?"

That did some good at calming her down. Lily spoke in a sad tone, "You don't have to apologize. We'll just have to wait out the paralyzing venom in your bloodstream and hope that this time the Spinarak didn't do so good a job binding you as it did to me."

A long silence passed, during which Ash tried fruitlessly to move a single muscle other than his mouth, his diaphragm, and his heart.

"How did you get caught?" Ash asked, trying to switch to a different topic.

So Lily began her story. "…and suddenly these black-robed figures that were just here earlier came out of nowhere and pointed their guns at my head! It was so frightening, I must have fainted! By the time I could concentrate clearly I was paralyzed by some venom and suspended at this frightfully high place! And you know I'm afraid of heights, Ash! And… I've been held captive here for two days now," she broke down and sobbed helplessly, unable even to brush away her tears. "I've starved to the point that my stomach could no longer feel any pain, and then starved until that pain got so bad my stomach could feel it again! And now it's just getting worse!"

"Hey, who's snared up there?" called a voice.

Ash knew immediately who it is. "Gary! Thank goodness you're here! Get us out of this mess, do it softly, don't try to catch those pokemon, watch out for Team Rocket!" Ash blurted out.

"Oh shit, this is just as bad as you predicted, Ralts," Gary let out when he realized the situation they were in. "Go Butterfree, drop sleep powder the entire area around us, Go Eevee, free my friends," he commanded quickly and calmly. Ash could tell that Lily had fallen in love with Gary just from that. And, of course, even more so when they were safely down the tree and liberated, courtesy of his Eevee. "Get out of sight," Gary told them before either could express their gratitude, which they did by obeying.

Satisfied that Butterfree had done its work, Gary took out a pokeball and tossed it at the Metapod on the tree. The alarm went off, and Gary too went to hide in a thicket. Soon all three were able to hear footsteps… slowing down…

"Jessie, it's time for midday nap, you know…"

"Hmm, yes, but there's an alarm!"

"But Jessie, I'm tired," the male voice said pathetically.

"Oh all right, it was probably just a – hmm… We're being DRUGGED! Go Pidgeot! Don't breathe, and get us out of here ASAP!!"

"Darn it," muttered Gary when Team Rocket was gone. "So close… That Jessie sure knows what she's doing…"

"Thanks so much for saving us Gary, we can't ever repay you, you know…" Ash sounded pathetic, and he blushed, for he knew it too well. Gary was a rival, after all, even if a friendly one.

"Don't thank me, that was my duty. Now, I believe you both lost your pokemon. If it's the least I can do…" Gary took out Ash's hand and placed an occupied pokeball in his palm, then did the same for Lily. "I can give you two a new start. Ash, that's a Ralts, lvl. 14. The reason I could get to you was because it sensed Lily's emotional distress. Lily, that's a Butterfree, lvl. 16. If you keep it free, it'll be able to fly off and get help in case you get in trouble. Promise me you'll be careful."

Neither Ash nor Lily could believe it. _Gary was being THIS generous with such well-trained pokemon!? _Although his first instinct was to be suspicious toward his rival, his mind told him that doing so would not be fair to Gary.

"Thanks… we will," said Ash. Then he turned and saw that Lily was beholding Gary through rose-colored glasses.

"Why you're such a gentleman, Gary!" she exclaimed in utter surprise. "Is it okay if I accompanied you on your Journey? I mean, I'll be able to keep you company, and you're just so… wonderful!" There was a something in that expression that told Ash that she utterly longed to go with him and perhaps even get on her knees to do so. At least – so Ash thought. She seemed to have a total crush on him… which was understandable, since he had just saved both of their lives, putting his own at risk, and then given them a pokemon each when they needed to have them the most. But still, deep inside Ash was having a crush on Lily.

It showed, because Gary's reply, after giving Ash an askew glance, was, "Honestly, Lily, it was my duty to help you out and show you both some charity. I have plenty of pokemon, as Ash knows very well. I have them to keep me company. But if you join me, what about Ash? It will just be him and his Ralts. And if Ash doesn't have a psychic inclination, that will be some incredibly boring company. Surely you will be a good companion for him?"

"What?" exclaimed Lily, stunned by his reply. "What do you mean? What has this got to do with Ash?"

"Oh, don't say that, Lily, or you'll break Ash's heart!"

"Yeah right," protested Lily.

"Hey, I don't need you patronize me, you know," interrupted Ash upon realizing where this was going, though his pink face belied his true feelings for the girl.

"No really, take a look at him," said Gary, and when Lily did so, Ash felt so utterly embarrassed he couldn't stand it any more.

"Oh, I get it," Lily stumbled upon a spark of insight. "You just don't like me!" Then she developed a weird facial expression that looked like she was about to burst into tears.

Gary then hit on an idea. "Okay, then, why don't you come with me for a little while. Ralts, teleport us all to the place where the others are waiting, hmm?" The next moment, all three trainers had disappeared out of that section of the woods…

And appeared beside a smoldering campfire. Ash felt quite nauseous from the experience, and yet at the same time it was quite exhilarating. This was some incredibly useful skill! He could just imagine – Team Rocket appearing again, and pointing their gun at him, then breaking their gun in disgust when he suddenly vanished to somewhere far, far away…

His reverie was disrupted by a group of six well-groomed belles cheerleading for Gary:

"Gary, Gary, he's our man,

If he can't do it, no one can!"

Ash stood open-mouthed at this display of adoration for his rival, by a team of infatuated lasses, and yet somehow his anger couldn't flow out that easily. After all, Gary… well, he _deserved_ such treatment – just, _how _did he manage to get such a crowd so quickly?

Gary turned back to Ash and Lily. "See what I mean? I already have a crowd following me everyday now. And joining the paparazzi won't be good for your self-esteem, or for your career," he told her. At this, Lily just stood aghast. Here was her new obsession, already crushed!

"How did you manage to get so many adorers?" asked Ash, amazed and deep inside wanting such an entourage for himself.

"That Ralts you're holding now holds the key to that mystery. Team Rocket has been doing this across the Viridian side of Viridian Forest. And if I hadn't come along, they would have been quite successful. Instead, at least for each of these six girls, I managed to find them – with the help of my Ralts – free them, and then lure the Team Rocket teams that captured them into falling asleep so that my Spinarak could tie them up. It worked flawlessly the first six times – so I had no reason to expect it not to this time. I did manage to incarcerate the other dozen Team Rocket members currently active in this region, return pokemon to my fans here, and claim Team Rocket's for my own."

"Wow…" Lily blurted out, having now totally fallen for Gary… And then remembered that she stood no hope of winning his heart. After all, the six some of cheerleaders Gary already had with him were all exceptionally beautiful – how was she going to compete? Her own hair was still a tangled gilded blob… Without warning, Lily turned around and fled into the forest.

"Hey wait!" shouted Ash the next moment, and rushed after her, dashing through the woods.

"Glad to be of service," said Gary with a lingering smile, before turning to the car where his fans had already gotten in. "All right, let's go!"


	4. Birth of a Power

**The Quest 4: Birth of a Power**

Ash was out of breath by the time he caught up with Lily, who had tripped over some upturned roots and was lying head-down on the ground and whimpering. "You okay?"

Lily suddenly whirled on him. "Why did it have to be Gary who rescued me? Why couldn't you do that? Then maybe our romances will both have had it made!"

"Huh?" Ash asked in surprise.

"Go away, Ash. I hate you. I HATE you!!" Then she turned around and sobbed some more. Ash didn't leave, because he could tell that Lily didn't really mean what she said… She probably just said that because her own emotions were so confused, and because – and Ash blushed once again at the thought of this – because Gary had told her that Ash had a crush on her. Oh, how was he going to get this all sorted out now?

"It's okay, Lily, we've each got a starter pokemon, so we can continue with them. Once we get good enough, we'll take the fight back to Team Rocket and make them pay—"

Before he could finish, Lily had tackled him onto the ground. "I don't want any consolation! I'll do this _myself_! You can take your Ralts and go your merry way, because I'm going mine! Regardless of what Gary said, I'm not going to stick with you, since you had proved earlier that you obviously didn't care _what _torment happens to me! But Gary does, he even said he sensed that we were in distress and came looking for us, I'm going to go travel the world and make my Butterfree strong and proud, and then beat those weepy little pokemon that those – witches – have for familiars!" Evidently she was getting a little carried away…

"Ah, okay, I'll believe you," said Ash glumly as he picked himself up. "As for me, nothing can replace my Charmeleon. Gary can have his Ralts back. I'm quitting."

Those were even stronger words there, and Lily knew that Ash meant this for real. "Wow, I didn't know you had _that _in mind…"

"Yeah, whatever, I lost my pokemon, got tricked by villains, got tied up in a tree, and got showed by my nemesis, all in one day. I _don't _need you to redirect your own anger at _me._ I'm sick and tired of your mistreatment. Whatever feeling I had for you earlier is _gone_, you got me?" And at that, he stormed off through the woods. His Ralts stayed behind, looking intently at it with hidden eyes.

"Hey watch it!" Ash shrieked in dismay as his Ralts suddenly entered his mind and teleported him back to the ground right next to Lily. "And I don't need you _also _getting on my nerves and keeping me falsely imprisoned here, Ralts! Get inside!" He clicked the button and immediately recalled the gifted pokemon.

Lily was more than startled by Ash's sudden burst of anger, and slightly quailed before him. Ash continued the tempo with a final "Read my lips, I've had enough of pokemon!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Three days later, Ash arrived, all depressed and worn out from his travels, and utterly defeated, back at his home at Pallet Town. During that entire trip he had not dared to free his Ralts for fear that it would get it into its head to teleport him all the way back into the forest. "Mom? I'm back," he said with a grimace, half hoping that his mother and sister weren't home.

They weren't. Which was a relief to Ash, who got to work preparing food – something, he recalled with great sadness, which was optimal for Charmander, his guardian, to have done. The refrigerated food would have been cooked in seconds suspended over its burning tail…

Without knowing it, his arrival had sounded an alarm back at the police headquarters, and suddenly they were upon him, with their guns trained. Officer Jenny (for there was at least one of these nearly identical officers in each town as well) stepped forth in her blue uniform and gave him a hard look. "Doesn't look like Team Rocket to me, Delia it's safe for you to come out now."

Ash watched in amazement as his mother daintily stepped out of a police car, and rushed over to hug her son. "Oh, I'm so glad you got back here safely! I heard reports that Novice trainers from Pallet were getting in big, dangerous trouble in the Viridian Forest and had been worrying ever since…"

Ash thought this through in his head. Something didn't seem right. Why would that be a reason for his mother to rig up her house with silent alarms, and then live, perhaps, in the police HQ? No, something – something _bad – _must have happened here… And then it struck him, and it filled him with horror: where was Kay? He looked with shock and fearfulness from mother to officer and back, mind unable to formulate the words. How could it be?

Officer Jenny gave Ash a serious look. "It's Team Rocket. They set up a sting operation for a week after you Novices had set out from Pallet, both in Viridian Forest where they could steal pokemon and in Pallet Town itself, seeking out every family whose thirteen-year-old had gone off, and stole many things. In your case, although your mother was too terrified to fight against armed guards, your sister did struggle, though of course ineffectually. As a result the robbers decided to abduct her as well – to where and for what purpose, no one knows."

Now he seriously needed time to digest what had transpired. His dear sister Kay had vanished! He had just fallen for this massive trap, and lost his dearest relative! And here he was, returning home, with a spirit utterly broken, without the guardian he had set out with, and with a stupid Ralts that wouldn't even listen to him…

He and Delia went with the police back to headquarters, where they could make temporary home. His mom prepared some form of soup dinner for them both, but although the food smelled wonderful, to him it was nauseous. He was still thinking… was the last time he would ever see Kay some ten days ago? He couldn't bear it, couldn't bear it at all… Oh, this was horrible, definitely what Novices should be going through… He didn't notice that he was fidgeting with his meal and his spoon to no end. Of course Delia saw him do so. "Please, son, don't dwell too much on that subject. It's too painful."

Ash suddenly pounded the butt end of his spoon on the table, attracting the attention of police officers nearby. "No, I'm not going to just give up on it! Dear Kay is counting on me, and I must do my best to save her! I may have returned a defeated pokemon trainer, but this is going to get me to set out anew! They'll be SORRY they ever tried to break _this_ family!" He was working up his anger incredibly quickly now…

Delia's eyes were wide open with fear. "Don't you even think of doing that, Ash! You're too small to go face to face with a gang that has a global presence! Where will you go? You don't even know where she's been taken to! You'll _never _get Kay back that way! You don't know if she's… even…" She couldn't bear to finish that last sentence, for it was _too _painful…

That did nothing to placate Ash, whose mind was whirring and whose face was starting to sweat profusely in passion even as his hands continued to fidget. Instead, he felt horrible. He felt like a young sapling that had just been stepped on and was now entirely bent, but was going whip back with force. He was going to do some damage. Team Rocket had already gotten too far. Not only had they abducted Charmeleon, they also abducted Kay! Who would they abduct next, Delia?! Or Ash himself? No, he was going to teach those bastards a lesson: he was NOT a quitter! And sooner or later, everything that got in the way of his quest for Kay would be forced to bend before him!

The next moment his steel spoon's head dropped backward, suddenly very bent.

"What the--!?"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Okay Ralts, I've decided not to quit. We're going to go find Kay before anything bad happens to her." Ash tossed the pokeball onto the ground, and the toddler-like pokemon materialized. It yawned, then began dancing a skit. "Hey, Ralts! Ralts! PAY ATTENTION TO ME!"

It opened a single glowing eye, and suddenly Ash felt a presence enter his mind. He knew what that meant – Ralts was going to teleport him again! There was a nauseating spin of the world, and Ash found himself holding onto the edge of his house's second-story roof for dear life. "AHH! Get me down! Okay, Ralts, I'm sorry for having mistreated you, please forgive me before I _die_!!" exclaimed Ash, suddenly not at all worried about Kay's fate.

A psychic presence entered his mind. ((A noble goal, but like Delia said, you don't stand a chance of succeeding.))

This caused such an immense headache that Ash felt he was going to black out. "Hey, quit that! That's what you're here for, remember? To be my guardian, so that if anything like that were to happen you'd be able to do something about it!"

((Actually, I prefer to get as far away from negative emotions as possible.))

"GAH!!"

((You still need to learn more about yourself. The best place to do that is at Professor Oak's laboratory.))

Ash's mind felt like cracking. "Why would I go there? Obviously Team Rocket isn't _there! _What _is_ over there?" he asked, while setting off in that direction.

((A machine that can test your psi levels. I am a psychic pokemon. I won't tolerate it if you can't even communicate with me properly.))

Ash's mind suddenly flashed back to that evening's dinner. _I AM psychic, though… I bent a spoon without realizing it, probably because I was so charged up with my desire to rescue Kay… If so, then maybe I stand a chance after all! I'll be able to communicate with my Ralts … _

In the darkness of the night, the silhouette of Oak's laboratory loomed upon Ash before he knew it. He rang the doorbell, knowing that the Professor was still awake at 10:00 PM. "Ash! What brings you back here?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," muttered Ash. "But my Ralts thinks I should come to test out my psi levels."

"Ah, come right in please. This way." Soon the two had come across a room that Ash had never ventured into before, one which had a large circular machine reminiscent of an MRI. "Lay on that stroller, and we can begin testing." Ash did as he was told, and soon his entire body was being carted into the colossal contraption.

For a while nothing happened. Then he could start feeling signals, and felt obliged to tell the Professor what he heard. "That was an E… An A… Left… Right… Up…"

"Relax, Ash…"

Then the signals began to get progressively louder, resonating in his head like nothing else in the world could possibly do. They became so powerful that Ash would have grasped his head in pain if he could. He was wracked by the – oh, this was torture! He tried to free himself, but the inner chamber of the machine left too little room to maneuver. Then he tried using his mind to block out the pain his body was experiencing. In moments it had died down to a dull throbbing…

Finally, Ash was pleasantly relieved when he was carted back out. "Don't… EVER… do that to me again, Professor," he panted worriedly.

"Huh? Oh, I thought that your Ralts would have told you about the pain that comes with that particular test… He didn't? Sorry, then…" Ash sighed, while Oak whistled at the score results. "Your Psychic Quota on the Psychic Aptitude Assay is 32!"

A pause, during which Ash expected the professor to continue. Realizing he wasn't about to, Ash explained, "that… doesn't mean anything to me."

"It means that you have the potential to one day achieve the power of a level-32 Abra or Kadabra. Pretty darn good. Most people score in the zero to three range…"

"Wow, that's… pretty darn impressive, I guess," said Ash, stunned by how high he had scored. "But why wasn't I aware of this earlier?"

"True psychic powers are in most cases only launched after a traumatic, or death-defying experience. Only then do we know just how psychically powerful a person can become. And after that, it'll be another long while before you reach your maximum potential. What is so wonderful about the Psychic Aptitude Assay is that it can predict, based on your brain's patterns, just how powerful your psychic powers can get at any time. So, you'll probably never be able to perform psychic actions of a level-33 Kadabra, for example."

_Well, I guess that makes sense, _thought Ash. _I DID have both a traumatic experience and a death-defying one… So I guess that does make me special._

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" asked Oak.

"Why, I'm off adventuring to improve my psychic powers and to train my Ralts."

"Well, you go do that—"

"I will—"

"But don't forget to pay me 1000 for the use of my equipment!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Ash and his Ralts were in his bedroom that morning. Ash had already cooled down a bit from last night's dinner, and knew that he was sending himself to his death if he were to just go out into the world right now and seek vengeance on Team Rocket. Even if it meant that every second Kay got a bit closer to dying – or something worse – he had to do this properly to ensure everyone's safety. Even if that meant that Ralts would be training him instead.

"All right, Ralts, let's get started with training. We need to get you to at least high enough to beat another Psychic pokemon if we are to stay safe. It'll be bad if I start going forth and come back as a possessed member of Team Rocket ready to possess someone. And, of course, I'll need you to teach me how to challenge my energy as well."

((You ought to learn telepathy first. That'll come in _very_ handy.))

"Okay, so teach me."

((This is something you need to learn by yourself. I can only nudge you in the right direction. Now. Concentrate on my telepathic link with you. You sense anything?))

"Err… No?"

((Then give up, at least for today. If you can't sense that link yet your psychic inclinations aren't developed yet, and you can't possibly start using or practicing it today. Let's try something else: attempt to sense your surroundings. Can you do that? Hmm… I'm in your mind right now, and you don't seem to be able to do that, since all I sense really is you listening to me and being really confused. Okay, number three: try to block out my mind. You can sense my presence in your head, can't you?))

"Yes, that I can."

((Good. Now try to block me out. You do this my focusing on the idea of a barrier: a block. Got that? Good. And try to concentrate exclusively on that fence you've erected. You've got to make it into a stone wall, not just a fence. That's how tough it has to be. Hey, pay attention to what I'm saying, all right?--))

"I'M GETTING A BIG HEADACHE FROM YOU!!"

Ash collapsed on his bed, his mind worn out from struggling to erect a wall right on top of Ralts's mental presence, coupled with the torturous feeling he kept getting whenever Ralts communicated to him that way. "Ralts, why can't you use your mouth to speak?"

((I'm lazy.))

Ash half expected something else in reply. "That's IT!? You lazy bum! Fine, since I can't learn from you just yet, you'll have to learn your own stuff! And while we're doing this, try not to speak to me unless there's a major problem, okay? I can't bear it. Now, first…" Ash looked at a copy of the primer named Psychic Pokemon Power that a friend of his had just delivered that morning. "We're going to teach you how to do some damage with your telekinesis powers. I first need to know just how good you are at that in general. Try to move the sofa."

For a while, nothing happened. "Did you hear me, Ralts?"

((I did as you asked, and I thought you didn't want me to talk to you.))

"Aargh! My head hurts! Shut up, Ralts, and I mean it!" Ash was hyperventilating and shaking. "All right, since you couldn't move the sofa… Move this chair!" Again nothing happened. "Why the heck can't you budge a chair if you can teleport me by a dozen paces? Never mind, don't tell me; I'm better off searching for the answer in this magazine than having you tell me telepathically…"

He looked at the section for beginners and saw a page differentiating between the five primary skills of anyone and anything psychic:

1. Telekinesis: Moving an object via the mind. This is generally easier done on smaller objects, or on objects that are already moving in that direction.

2. Telepathy: Communication via the mind. This category includes sensing thoughts and emotions in someone else's mind.

3. Teleportation: Instantaneously moving an object via the mind. This is an instinctive ability for Abra, for which it may be used on itself or on any willing conscious being. To do this, one must have at least partial control of the living being in question.

4. Telesensation: Sensing the surroundings via the mind.

5. Teleblock: Resisting any of the above four via the mind.

_Oh, I didn't even have to worry about Ralts teleporting me back to Lily, since it only works if I'm willing… Then again, it did happen already… I guess that's because of my crush on Lily that tells a part of me that I didn't want to leave her? Oh, this crush is going to become such a handicap…_

"All right Ralts, let's start with Telesensation," decided Ash, flipping to the chapter on that topic. A note near the top of the page ran, 'As with all forms of psychic power, practice makes perfect. At the same time, it is quite painful a skill to develop. Therefore, only those with fortitude and courage should attempt to improve their current abilities.' _Aww shucks, _thought Ash. _The kind of stuff I told Charmander about having to endure the suffering of getting watered down is coming back to bite me in the head. But a trainer's got to do what a trainer's got to do._

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

A week later, Delia found Ash already up at the early time of 8:00 AM, busy attempting to communicate telepathically with his Ralts. "Wow, you're up early. It's nice to know that you're at least not stupid enough to just venture out into the open again and look for your sister. You still need to grow up and mature a lot before taking on the world like that. Of course, police in every city have put up posters of Kay, so I'll daresay she could be back any day."

Ash broke off his communication with Ralts. It had already been a week, and it was time to try it out on Delia. Hopefully it wouldn't hurt his mother if she could not sense his mental presence. With anything new there was a risk that he always ran, just like when he was training his Charmander. He turned to look at Delia with an intent stare – for from that book he had been lent he learned that this was vital to success, especially for newbies in the psychic arena – and started using his mind to form a link with hers.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" asked Delia, a bit worried.

Suddenly, Ash felt the channel completing. The link was established! Albeit considerably slower than the last time he had done so with his Ralts, which probably indicated that his Ralts had been secretly helping him out in getting it to work correctly. Ash took great care to slowly, cautiously extend his mind into Delia's.

There was a torrent of thoughts that just washed over him. However, due to all his practice Ash was able to withstand this onslaught and focus on finding what he wanted to know: particular, useful aspects of his mother's thoughts that were standing at the forefront. Of course, the mind of a human and that of an Ralts were clearly different, but since Ash _was _a human he figured that he would have an advantage.

_Oh, dearie, my little precious darling boy does look considerably possessed, I wonder what he's going to do now? I hope he won't jump me, that would be bad… very bad! But nothing has happened so far, and why would he get possessed? You know what, I don't think he even is possessed, _Delia's thoughts flowed outward, an interminable river. None of those thoughts indicated that Delia had sensed his invasive mind.

_Wow, _thought Ash. _This is wonderful. Now let's try telling her that I am ready._

He focused his own myriad, getting-more-confused-by-the-moment thoughts together, and then communicated a line of thought toward her. This was not too hard, since he had already opened up a telepathic link between the two of them. ((I think I AM ready, I'm not your baby boy any more, you know…))

Delia screamed out in fright, just as if she had been physically assaulted, and looked at Ash with absolute terror. "What are you, and what did you do with my Ash?!" she shrieked, backing away, shuddering, and preparing to dart out the door.

Ash was so shocked the telepathic link between them simply fell apart. He held out his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Hey mom, it was nothing really, just trying to show you—"

"You're not my boy! Get out! Or better yet, stay here, and I'll get out!" With that Delia fled out the door, screaming "Help!!"

"Oh no, we're in trouble," Ash told Ralts as he retrieved his backpack. Earlier in the day he had placed 3000.00 Kanto dollars in his debit card. "I take this as an indication that we've been here too long, and now have overstayed our welcome. Let's get out of here. Don't forget to teleport my backpack over there along with us."

There was another nauseating, spinning feeling, and an incredibly dizzy Ash toppled flat on his back into the knee-high grass of the road separating Pallet from Viridian.

_Don't worry, Kay, I'm coming for you now._


	5. To Be the Best

**The Quest 5: To Be the Best**

It was the twentieth day since Ash first set out from Pallet Town, way behind all the other Novices that had set out the same day. A lesser boy would have been embarrassed, but in his case it was the least of his concerns how others saw him. He had a quest to do, and he knew that in order to do that he would first have to learn much about pokemon tactics. After all, he could already imagine that sometime in the future – maybe not today, maybe not even this month – he would be face to face with Team Rocket, and then he will have no other choice than to fight battles the hard, harsh way – the way that Kay would never see even if she kept playing the pokemon make-believe video game for the rest of her life. No – this was something he could only learn by being out in the world and learning everything, perhaps the hard way, perhaps by watching others take it the hard way…

Which was why he and his Abra were at the front row of the Viridian City Gym watching a contestant – this time one he did not recognize, and considerably older than he was – preparing to match with the gym leader, Giovanni. The latter had, from what Ash had heard, not lost a single match out of some hundred and thirty challenges thrown his way since Ash had first arrived in Viridian City two weeks ago, and who knew how many he had won before that.

Things weren't all that different. The arena was still a soiled mess, with upturned rock and debris everywhere; contestants and audience both had clutters of soot and humus hanging off their hair and shoulders; and not a single battling pokemon was visible under the bright stadium lights.

Ash tried to connect with Abra mentally, even though it was still quite painful to do so. ((Can you sense where the pokemon are?))

Ralts used that same link to reply, and it took all of Ash's effort to not scream out and look like an idiot. ((Yes. Giovanni's Dugtrio is smashing the challenger's Scyther into a pulp.)) Ash recalled the characteristics of those pokemon. Dugtrio was a mole-like pokemon that could traverse the ground underneath like it was nothing; it was a master of the ground, which played directly to its advantage in this match up. Scyther was a brutal knife-wielding pokemon, but that didn't mean that it could do any good with those blades in the pitch black tunnel system which Dugtrio kept changing. In fact, it was probably right this moment in trouble…

Ash sent out his psychic feelers into the ground, looking for that characteristic signal that indicated a Scyther. It had taken tremendous work for him to memorize the charts at the back of the psychic pokemon primer, but now it was starting to pay off. Once he linked telepathically to the Scyther, he started delving into its thoughts and emotions. The dominating emotion was fear. Fear that it was about to die in this subterranean cell, fear that it would take another hit – and another – from its opponent, fear that it was all alone against such a formidable enemy.

What this what his Charmander had been feeling when he had forced it to train against the water?

Suddenly Ash cried out in pain, attracting a worried look from spectators seated on both sides. Something had happened to Scyther; he could feel nothing from it. Much like it was asleep--

((Scyther's knocked out,)) said Ralts.

_Oh great, this match is over too, _thought Ash as suddenly the Dugtrio rammed the pokemon from below, sending it through the meters of topsoil in an explosion reminiscent of a volcano (just without the flame).

Dazed, the contestant took out his pokeball and recalled the gravely injured pokemon before running out of the gym. _There's another victory for Giovanni, _thought Ash. _There's no way we can challenge him, especially since it would be imprudent to go in without adequate preparation. _

"Who will be my next victim?" asked Giovanni in a creepy voice that was calculated to make challengers back off so he could close the gym for the day.

Some were certainly terrified at the prospect, but the next contestant in line stood resolute, walking to the arena. "I challenge you," he said, looking totally unfazed. He had taken only a brief look at the knocked-out pokemon belonging to the last contestant. With him came three pokemon which Ash recognized at a glance: a Pidgeotto (the intermediate form between Pidgey and Pidgeot), an Onyx (a giant snake-like pokemon comprised of a chain of boulders stuck together), and a Wartortle (a medium-sized water-squirting pokemon). Between the two hands he held three pokeballs.

"Then you shall be my 900th unbroken victory, and counting," said Giovanni with a smile that was devoid of any warmth. _Nine hundredth? No telling how many pokemon had died in the attempt to win that badge, _thought Ash.

Giovanni took out two pokeballs, each of which released a brilliant silhouette. "In addition to my Dugtrio, I choose Blastoise and Ivysaur!" _What? But those aren't ground pokemon! _The two flashes of light reformed into said pokemon; the first, a monstrous tortoise with water cannons on its back; the second, almost as large, but with a beautiful red bulb and razor leaves sticking out of its back. _Wow, that's certainly formidable, _thought Ash. Like Charizard and Onyx, those two pokemon had experience levels comparable to their size; as they became tougher and older, they also became larger. The Blastoise was the size of a tank, and perhaps just as powerful. _Yes, we are definitely going to put off our match against Giovanni._

The challenger whispered to his pokemon, "do your stuff," and suddenly all three of them went their separate ways, preparing to attack. In his own box, the announcer began blaring away strings of positive attributes about each of the pokemon in preparation for describing the battle itself…

It all happened so very quickly. Giovanni shouted out his commands, of Blastoise, hydro pump the Onyx! Ivysaur, razor leaves, now! Dugtrio, sandstorm!"

The announcer began detailing, in a loud, clear voice, every part of the battle – as quite a few spectators had little idea just what was going on. "And immediately, a massive column of high-velocity water slammed into the massive rock-snake, sending it sprawling backward before it can recover! The challenger's Wartortle had sprayed the ground above Dugtrio with a blast of its own water, forcing Giovanni to order a temporary retreat. Not to be thwarted, he counters with Ivysaur's razor leaf move! Razor-sharp pieces of leaves broke off the Ivysaur's back and whirled around in a maelstrom, before being picked up by Pidgeotto's gusts of wind – my, that challenger has gotten some good training to be able to take care of that! – sending the leaves back, to ineffectually pick away at Ivysaur's scaly body! As the Blastoise continues trading attacks against the Wartortle – giving it a considerable beating! – a frustrated Giovanni wonders what he ought to do next!..."

"Dugtrio, get that sandstorm going!" roared Giovanni angrily, irritated that this newcomer was doing so well. "Ivysaur, capture that bird in your vines! Blastoise, keep picking away at that Wartortle!"

"…But just as the Blastoise sends out another column of water, the Wartortle suddenly dematerialized, sucked back into its pokeball by its trainer!" The same pokeball split open, having been thrown elsewhere in the arena. "And lo, there it is again, on the other side of the field, ready to launch a surprise attack!..."

"Darn it!" Giovanni cursed, as Pidgeotto successfully evaded the vine whip for the umpteenth time.

"…Suddenly we feel a tremendous rumbling – Onyx is preparing to fall on top of Ivysaur! And it would have ordinarily resulted in a one-hit K.O. against the walking plant – after all, its most sensitive spot is the bud – but with Giovanni's pinpoint recall Ivysaur vanishes at the last moment in a flash of red! And Onyx hits the ground hard, totally missing its target, who is now on the far side of the arena to trade projectiles with the newcomer's Wartortle! It looks like that Dugtrio Giovanni had been shouting at had finally gotten its act together; look at that sand screen! It's all over the place! But this may not work in Giovanni's advantage, seeing as how he is still giving the orders, and the challenger has said naught but a single word all through this match! Will Giovanni's orders be effective in this field? Already Pidgeotto is blasting the dirt particles into Blastoise's eyes – and now we can no longer see them duel! What's it doing now, perching on the ground? Will it get hit hard? Blastoise looks ready to fire back!"…

Highly sensitive to vibrations, the Dugtrio came up from below in an attempt to knock it sprawling. Instead, it collided point-blank with Blastoise's hydro pump that pushed it out of the ground and into a muddy pool, unconscious. "Dugtrio, return!" Giovanni ordered in a worrisome voice.

"…Onyx is now ramming directly at the Ivysaur, but by recalling the latter at just the right moment, Giovanni saved the pokemon for the second time in the same match! And caused the Onyx to ram into the arena point-blank, shooting dirt and soil everywhere. Although it is made entirely of rock, how much more punishment is it able to take? In the meantime, the cloud of sand and debris is still growing! Soon maybe I won't even be able to see anything… And now mud is mixed in as Wartortle begins to dig through the tunnel network, launching its water gun into the tunnel network. Has it spotted a target? Or is it attempting to flood it entirely?..."

Within a minute the entire arena had turned into a swamp. Blastoise's immense size now caused it to sink into the ground, which had become much like quicksand.

"Oh did you all see that? Pidgeotto performed its wing attack magnificently, nipping Ivysaur's bud at long last! Ivysaur is out cold, leaving Giovanni no choice but to withdraw it immediately! But at the same time the bird is in no condition to fight as it is sent hurtling into the wall by Blastoise's powerful hydro pump!..."

Silently, the contestant recalled the Pidgeotto, the first pokemon to be recalled. The gym leader had only one pokemon left: a half-submerged, half-blind Blastoise.

"And now, its task complete, Wartortle is coming up to prepare a skull-bashing! Will Blastoise notice just in time to avert tragedy?..." As the Wartortle came up to prepare a skull-bashing, it was picked up helplessly and roughly hurtled at the Onyx. "That Blastoise may be half-over, but it's still able to pack a rock-solid punch!..." went the announcer as the crowd ooh'd and aah'd.

Resilient shell impacted solid stone, and the former was knocked out. "…Onyx too is beginning to sink under its own weight as water practically exudes out of the oversaturated arena nonstop, flooded by both Blastoise and Wartortle. Onyx looks like it's in trouble, having been bashed by Blastoise over and over, but as it is totally rock, it still has one chance to end this match favorably – with its invulnerability to water! Well, now it looks as if the match will end in a draw as both drenched, immense and highly resistant pokemon attempt to maneuver into a favorable position. But a stalemate is all that the challenger needs for an Earth Badge…" said the announcer as the dust finally began to settle, revealing an entirely mud-soaked front-row audience and what looked like a terrible battle zone.

"No, it's over," said Giovanni proudly. "Give it your Blizzard!"

_That Blastoise knows Blizzard!?_

The announcer was ecstatic. "If that is the case, then this will certainly be the end of the match! As most of you know, rock is weak against ice, and easily harmed by an ice and water combination, which is exactly what the amazing gym leader is pulling off right now!..."

Suddenly the air in the entire stadium began to cool rapidly. The challenger shook his head in utter disbelief as the water all over Onyx began to chill, then expand into the crystalline shape of ice. Cracks appeared all over Onyx's back; it roared in fury before toppling over, defeated.

"Good work, you trained your pokemon very well," some members of the audience consoled the loser. Since it was clear who was the underdog, Giovanni didn't get much praise – other than the announcer's lavishing, of course.

Giovanni looked at the contestant with a smile on his face. "You were close – very close. Good match!" The contestant barely noticed, rushing off to revive his pokemon. Giovanni turned back and exited the arena, presumably to immediately treat his pokemon before the next match. It was hard work, Ash realized, to constantly have to take challengers. However, he noticed that even more of the day's schedule of challengers had decided to call it quits and leave…

Ash quietly left the room, fifteen-pound Ralts easily carried on his shoulder. He struggled to open up a telepathic channel, but it was getting easier each time. ((Well, we learned a lot today, didn't we?)) _Like the importance of learning unorthodox skills, the need to have pokemon able to carry on their own, the need to simultaneously synchronize the moves of all one's pokemon, and the ability to quickly recall pokemon in danger. Such a long way to go, so little time…_

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Up to this point, Ash had been journeying for quite a while now, so he decided to take a break in the Viridian City park. Though, he knew that even as they were taking a break, it would be totally _wrong _for him to do so and not be productive at the same time. After all, his sister was counting on him to save her life…

Tossing some food over to Ralts (who used telekinesis to bring the food right into its waiting mouth instead of using its tiny hands to grab the food), Ash declared, ((All right Ralts, we need to get ourselves some practice if we are to stand much of a chance against what we're fighting. Since I've just taught you all I know about using telekinesis to launch small objects as projectiles, it's your turn to teach me.))

((Well then, let's get started with seeing how well you can last against a mental invasion,)) replied Ralts. Before the meanings of that had even sunk in, Ralts had widened the telepathic link holding them together. Suddenly visions of the past went flashing by Ash's mind, some of them things that he never wanted anyone else to know, some of them he had forgotten entirely. Instinctively he tried to throw up a mental barrier to stop Ralts's telepathic attack, but he failed miserably. Within seconds his mind had been battered to a pulp by the strength of the opposing force; his mind reeled from its internal torture and lay unthinking, watching helplessly as Ralts continued to suck information from his mind.

((Stop, Abra, STOP! Stop, I said!)) cried out Ash in utter dismay and fear.

((Come on, you've got to overcome this, you know,)) Ralts responded. The next moment his mental intrusion intensified, to the point that Ash's eyes had glazed over and he was starting to see stars. There was no way he could fight back with his mind…

Ash awoke with a start. Where was he? Oh right, still in the forest… That Ralts must have sucked out nearly everything about his life out of him, Ash realized, stricken. _And of course, it's now off to sleep again, acting as if it was perfectly innocent. I'll show you—_

Ralts awoke. ((What's that?)) Suddenly it drilled into Ash's head and sent him teleporting right on top of a Tangela. It was immediately squished, and slapped at him furiously with its blob of vines, whipping him all the way back until he reached Ralts's side.

((Why'd you do that?)) he challenged, now very upset and feeling quite humiliated at not being able to take care of his own pokemon.

((It's your fault you were thinking of harming me.))

((But.. I never wanted to be teleported, so how did it work?))

((Because in the moment I suddenly woke up, you had an intense fear of what I was about to do and wanted to get away as much as possible. So I happily obliged.))

((Why you--))

((Notice that your ability to handle telepathic communication is getting quite good,)) said Ralts, changing the issue and simultaneously flattering him. ((Now, let us progress to the next lesson: sensing others' thoughts passively.))

((Like what you had been able to do earlier?))

((Yes. Once you master that discipline, you should be able to keep a field of seeking all around you via which you can sense if anyone is going to initiate a threat against either of us, or anyone else for that matter; and you will know who you can trust, or who's trying to hide something from people in general, etcetera. I'm betting that will come in handy against tricky little devils of the likes of Team Rocket. Now we will break this telepathic connection, and you try to sense what the pokemon around you are thinking.))

((Is that safe?))

((Of course.)) Ralts then preemptively broke the connection between them. Ash sighed resignedly to listening to his guardian's instructions, getting into a meditative pose and then attempting to pick out what was going on around him.

The first thing that he noticed was that of the Tangela. It was a very eerie feeling to have so many limbs, each of which were expert at wrapping around things, and to be composed of nothing but a tiny core around which countless layers of the same limbs wrapped around… Until then, Ash had never realized that he would be able to sense and feel what a pokemon did – this psychic power was working miracles! And as the Tangela began walking, Ash picked up on its thoughts – he focused on it – and could experience Tangela's sensations of bobbling around alternatively on its rubbery-ball-like body and its tiny feet. Before long he was sensing what Tangela was thinking as well—

((Ash, I told you to do this passively,)) Ralts warned.

((Huh? I know, I was trying to--))

((Don't try, do. What, are you going to try to rescue Kay instead of actually doing that?))

Ash sighed. ((Let's try again.)) Closing his eyes again, he began concentrating on nothing in particular – which, as people who have tried doing that very well know, always turns into one of three things: thinking about trying not to think, thinking about something that sprung to their attention, or thinking about the philosophical consequences of nothingness. At any rate, it wasn't very productive.

((Ash,)) warned Ralts again, ((you have to let yourself relax. I know it's hard, since you're so worried and uptight about your sister's predicament, but it won't do any good if you don't calm down.))

Ash tried again. And tried. And tried. And kept trying, not leaving the spot for the rest of the day. That is, until it became night-time, and his stomach kept grumbling for food. It was then that he realized that concentration, while the psychic types' greatest strength, was also its greatest weakness. For there was no way Ash could concentrate on not concentrating (or _whatever_) and at the same time keep getting his concentration stolen away by his desire to eat, which would always break down into lust for a particular food's appearance, smell, or taste…

((You know what, Ralts, I don't think I can manage this any more. We should go to a restaurant…))

((All right then, you lead the way. But at the same time I'll be testing you…)) Moments later Ash gave up trying to go to the restaurant as Ralts thrust its mind right back into Ash and started reading his brain like a book.

((Stop that!))

((Why don't you?))

((GRR!!)) Ash groaned in dismay. ((How about I teach you now? Remember all that about rock-projection? Well if I get into any trouble I'll communicate with you and tell you. And then I want you to _get me the heck out of there!_ You got that? You've seen what happened the last time Team Rocket showed up; I practically had the pants scared off me. So I'll be counting on you to stay by my side and help me get out of trouble, okay?))

((Oh, so that's why you're letting me out of the pokeball, hmm?))

((Please Ralts, give it a break, how many trainers do you see around you who have pokemon out?))

((Err… None. But there aren't currently any other trainers in this park…))

((Well, there, you get my point,)) Ash declared in an awkward triumph.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Four days later, Ash was still in Viridian City. ((All right Ralts, let's practice this again!))

Earlier on, he had decided that regardless of how he would be fighting battles, he would have to be able to issue orders to his team if they were to succeed. And he knew that he wanted to be able to do this without anyone else – especially his opponent – from knowing what move he was using, and where. So he had laid out a grid with him at the origin, and in every direction around him he could specify a particular location up to a hundred feet with his new coordinate system method of planning. It was simple, really: going from left to right increased the first number, the X, going forward increased the Y, and going up into the sky increased the Z. It may be a bit counter-intuitive, but it was a lot better than having to project the image of what he was focusing on, as well as the surroundings, and pass _all _of that onto Ralts. Especially since it was unlikely any of his other pokemon would be able to fully discern such an image…

Upon spotting a tree in the thicket, he hid the object of his attention from Ralts's probing mind, then communicated, ((ten-four-six))! Immediately, Ralts sent a pebble directly into the tree branch Ash had set as the target. A perfect hit! But then, that was to be expected; they had had three days to perfect this tactic.

((Good work! I think it's about time we left the park now.)) The next moment Ralts decided to beat its trainer in the head with some intense mind-reading practice. ((GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!)) Ash screamed in fury, immediately erecting a tough wall using his considerably developed psychic abilities. ((Heh – try to break that down,)) he challenged.

The next moment his self-confidence had gotten the best of him and the mental barrier fell apart of its own accord. Ash sweatdropped.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Hello there, what may I do for you?" asked the librarian when Ash arrived. This was Viridian's largest library, and to add to the bonus, it was open 24/7.

"Do you have any books regarding the ability to get non-psychic pokemon to understand their trainers' psychic signals?"

Instead of waiting for a reply, Ash opened up a channel into the librarian's head. In mere seconds, a lot of active thought had flowed through the librarian's mind, and as Ash very well knew, asking a question would bring up the answer into her mind. _Why is he trying to do that? Training non-psychic pokemon to be half-psychic is very dangerous and will certainly cause a lot of pain to all of them – not to mention it may result in madness if not done carefully. We do have these books, or at least those related to making pokemon home in on signals. They're in the basement, kept out of normal sight, but the path there certainly isn't locked – that'll be too suspicious. It's likely that no one would know about the presence of those books. But dare I tell him where it is? He doesn't look so bad – but then who would ever purposefully attempt to look evil? And yet it is dangerous information if it falls into the wrong hands and they find a way to apply its principles to pokemon…_

"Never mind, you don't have to tell me, I already know where it is," Ash blurted, then hit himself on the head for being so overt. He paced away from the information desk – leaving behind a thoroughly bewildered librarian in his search for the stairs down.

There were a few people looking through the books in the basement shelves. Ash could never get around to understanding the classification system used. And that was upstairs, not in the basement where there was practically no ordering. People weren't really expected to find what they were looking for here. So instead he took a different, invasive tack: He sent out feelers from his mind and into all of theirs, probing in their fresh memories for which sections of the basement contained books on which topics. Hence, it was with little difficulty for him to find what he was looking for, easily overlooked by people who were searching for something else entirely.

((Here it is,)) Ash silently said to his Abra. (('The innate psychic capabilities of pokemon', 'Psychic-non-psychic pokemon interactions', 'The total psychic pokemon trainer's handbook', 'Going psychic', 'Finding your latent psychic potential'…)) Ash grabbed all the books with relevant titles and held them, stacked one on top of another, in his hands as he proceed to a reading room.

He couldn't finish them all in one day. However by nightfall he had uncovered most of the principal concepts that he needed to know in order to get this to all work out. For he did not feel inclined to perpetually shout out triplets of numbers in ordering his pokemon about; he wanted to do this in a way that would sound less geeky. Though he doubted that the last trainer he saw matching against Giovanni had the psychic potential necessary to communicate with them that way, he believed – no, knew – that with such an ability tapped into, he could achieve a level of knowledge of the battlefield and control over it that few could surpass.

It was exhilarating to progress so quickly from just an idea, being unsure of whether or not it was feasible, to having a good idea of what it involved, to developing a plan for getting it to work out. And he already knew what his first step was. Since he only had one pokemon – his Ralts – he knew that it was absolutely vital to get himself a few more pokemon. He had set out from Pallet with a refreshed wallet and belt of five unused pokeballs. But that would be for tomorrow.

((Tonight I'm going to sleep in the library,)) said Ash, yawning and trying to hide it from irritated readers sitting right next to him.

((Now don't give me another excuse to lecture you about the ethics and morality of taking advantage of such an offer and not sleeping at an inn…))

((You know quite well that you don't know _anything _about money, since you never used them, nor worked for them,)) retorted Ash.

((No, but I certainly can telekinetically grab money for the taking…))

Ash sweatdropped.


	6. Money Matters

**The Quest 6: Money Matters**

Five more days had passed since Ash and his Ralts had left Viridian City, striking on the road east, and now the skyline of Celadon City was fast approaching. He had decided to go this way for two reasons, one being not wanting to go through the heart of Viridian Forest again and another being that as long as Kay was being held captive somewhere in Kanto, Celadon City would be closer than a corner town like Pewter. Unless, of course, Kay was _in _Pewter City, but that was minor probability…

Although supplies were running low since they had set out, their prior training had equipped Ralts with the skill to quickly find a small, sharp rock from the ground anywhere they were and to send it telekinetically through the heart of any rabbit or bird that came by. It was almost _wrong _to be doing such things, since it was to unfair to the hunted to be killed so easily. It wasn't as if Ralts's advanced psychic powers allowed any room for missing with something as easily manageable as a rock…

They had spent all the past seven days since leaving Pallet training their psychic powers while constantly venturing forth. Although there was no way of telling just what "level" Ash's own powers had attained, his were still far, far behind that of his Ralts, and the Poke-Center was coming up…

"Nurse Joy again," Ash remarked wryly the moment he spotted her working at the front desk. "If this wasn't a hospital I'd be calling this a dynasty _and _a monopoly."

"Well, let's just see about that after I've tended to your pokemon," Nurse Joy replied with a smile as she handed him the obligatory contract of terms.

Ash looked around and spent the wait buying some additional supplies. _Good, at least none of the others from Pallet Town had gotten here yet. I bet they all got bottlenecked trying to beat Brock, so zealous are they to get all eight badges in as short a period of time as possible… _

"Ralts is lvl. 29. Your pokemon is now fully healed," said Nurse Joy with a wink.

"Thanks, but it's _still _a monopoly," replied Ash before letting Ralts out (it teleported right onto his shoulders, making Ash almost crumple). As the nurse walked away, he looked upon the little creature on his shoulder with surprise. ((That's more than double your level when we first met,)) he stated, letting his surprise flow freely through the connection.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The Celadon department store was one of a kind. It took all of a skyscraper some hundred and forty-six stories tall, each floor dedicated to a particular pokemon native to Kanto. There was a single floor – Ash forgot the number – dedicated to a certain man-made pokemon called a Porygon as well. As he – with Ralts still resting on his shoulders like always – entered the building, he was totally amazed by this place, whose merchandise had already reached a near-legendary status.

On the ground floor (which was named the 0th floor), the basic items were for sale. This included everything he had been offered back at Pallet's, and then Viridian's, stores, but had far more. Also for sale were things like extreme lemonade and extreme soda, which were a potent mix of the latest advances in medicine and refreshing drinks. But as they weren't ordinary lemonade and soda, one look at the price tag was enough to turn Ash off. There was no way he was going to dish out 699.99 plus tax for a glass of lemonade…

Next he moved on to the ball mart. There were a variety of pokeballs for sale: The red-white standard pokeball, the much more expensive gray-yellow great-ball, the even costlier red-blue ultra-ball, and a silver luxury-ball. That last one was new to him, so he approached the salesperson and asked, "could you explain the difference between these poke-balls?"

"Ah yes, good question! You see, the standard pokeballs are good for catching most kinds of pokemon, but it is also the most primitive technology for doing so. If you have stronger pokemon you wish to catch, you can't possibly use them. Imagine a Snorlax – that kind of giant, blubbery pokemon won't fit in a pokeball even if you tried for a million years! Yet it can in a great-ball. This awesome piece of technology uses two buttons instead of one; it has the normal white button, but it also has a red button, which is the key to its technology. The great-balls are capable of expanding in your hand when you press the alternate button- " the salesperson demonstrated the size by putting his hand into a C shape – "and when it is enlarged its digital arrays expand along with it, allowing it to hold and restrain large pokemon. That also makes it ideal for capturing pokemon that are troublesome to catch, those that resist capture, and those that live in the water. A normal pokeball obviously won't be capable of taking up a big chunk of the water along with it when it tries to catch a pokemon the first time. The great-ball comes in a variety of forms, such as the surf ball, optimized for catching water-type pokemon…"

"What about the luxury ball?" inquired Ash.

"I was getting to that, but please, let me introduce the functions of the ultra ball first for comparison purposes. The ultra-ball expands on the great ball by enlarging to the size of a dodge ball and has the ability to catch the largest of pokemon. It also subdues pokemon; once a pokemon is captured, the ultra-ball steadily adds pain and anguish to the captive to make it incredibly hard for that pokemon to resist for more than a second. You could capture almost any pokemon this way, even capture smaller pokemon without a fight. The ultra-ball also comes in a variety of forms, each optimized for catching a specific type of pokemon.

"Now, the luxury ball. It combines all the aspects of the various ultra ball product lines into one, making it incredibly easy to use. Not only is it slightly better than the ultra-ball because it can deal with a variety of situations, it is optimized against _all_ types of pokemon, so you don't have to struggle with finding the right pokeball to use against a rare and fleeting pokemon! Not only that, but the luxury ball contains a built-in full revive, which means that the moment you catch a pokemon, it's ready to fight on your side!"

"Well, thanks for the information!"

"Would you be interested in buying any of these products?" asked the hopeful salesperson.

"I don't have any money, I came to inspect all the goods and then report to my grandma," Ash lied flatly. "Thank you for your time!" And with that he departed. There was no way he would be buying any of these… The ordinary pokeball cost 199.99; the luxury ball cost 6499.99. Luxury _always _came with a price, and a hefty one at that.

And Ash only had 2200.00 with him…

After that Ash toured the other parts of the first, and most important floor (which was filled with customers). He didn't buy anything, for he knew he had to conserve his money or else he would end up starving. And there was no way he would be buying the newest "hot thing", Rare Candy ™, which was a cool 9999.99 plus tax. After he was done he went up to the 5th floor, which was the floor devoted entirely to Charmeleon. Although he had lost his Charmeleon, some part of him told him to still look into this – maybe, just maybe, he would get his Charmeleon back…

In stark contrast with the first floor, there was almost no one there. The entire floor was filled with large machines that most pokemon could easily fit inside. These were the TM's that made this department store both famous and a skyscraper – Transformational Machines. Each one was made to grant one specific pokemon one specific ability. Assuming there were twenty of these for each pokemon, and there were 146 floors, that was over two thousand TM's in this building.

((You're not native to Kanto, so I doubt they'll have any TM's or HM's for you in Celadon,)) noted Ash.

The placement of these gigantic machines appeared chaotic at first sight. Although they took up about the same room each, each row had plenty of missing TM's. It was clear that this was the case because the current state of technology didn't have a means to give certain pokemon certain truly unusual moves. At the entrance beside his elevator Ash saw that the TM's were placed into rows based on their primary number – from 01 for Mega Punch to TM50 for Substitute. Taking this opportunity to scan for a good TM, he found a few that caught his attention: Fire Blast, Reflect, and Cut.

Moments later he had arrived at TM38 and read the description for what it would do: "Enhances your Charmeleon to make it fully capable of using Fire Blast, a move it otherwise will not learn naturally. Fire Blast is a powerful fire-type ability whereby the pokemon unleashes a terrifically powerful explosion in every direction away from itself…"

_Wow, Charmeleon, this is exactly what we want,_ thought Ash. He put in his debit card and got a reject. "What? How costly is this thing?" He looked further down the description and saw the price tag at last: '4999.99 for one use.'

Ash fell onto the ground in his surprise. "It costs THAT much?! All right then, forget it. Next!"

The description on TM33 was "Enhances your Charmeleon to make it fully capable of using Reflect, an ability it otherwise does not learn naturally. Reflect is a powerful special ability whereby the pokemon uses its stored fire energy to force a reversion of most types of attacks directed at it or an ally… 4999.99 for one use.'

Ash was on to the next one in a heartbeat. _Cut is an HM, not a TM, so it may have a different cost…_ he reasoned. Cut: "Enhances your Charmeleon to make it fully capable of using Cut. This is a Heuristic Machine and pokemon are able to learn this after undergoing thorough training. Cut is a powerful heuristic whereby the pokemon uses its claws or talons to perform a masterful and precise cut… 2999.99 for one use.'

And there he was, totally amazed by the high prices for using all these machines. No wonder barely anyone came to this place, and no wonder Giovanni's unorthodox Blastoise was totally unexpected by the entire audience. Even though the technology existed, who could afford to pay for it?

Team Rocket could. They had _lots _of illegally obtained pokemon to sell.

He needed money. And if he wanted to be able to save Kay, he needed it fast.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The poker lounge was smoke-filled in every room. People in business suits and wearing opaque sunglasses looked at their cards and shot everyone else a superior look with a haughty smile, if they did not proceed to taunt each other immediately. The dealers shuffled and dealt out cards smoothly and swiftly, giving the place the aura of an abode where everyone knew exactly what they were doing and could not be taunted.

And Ash was taunted. Though he knew how to play poker, he hadn't played it an awful lot, always viewing it as a game in which the dealer had an exceptional advantage that precluded anyone else from winning in the long run.

Though this time he had a card up his sleeve…

Ash was ready, his Ralts tucked into its pokeball and hidden out of sight. Upon arriving at the nearest desk, he asked to join in and was accepted as they were just about to begin the next hand. Ash wore what he always wore on his journey (he only had two sets of every clothes with him, and he alternated and washed every day). He looked so out of league with everyone else that two of the other players gave him one look before chuckling. This was going to be an easy game…

The dealer shuffled the cards, the next player cut them, and the dealer dealt the cards to each player – five cards each, face-down. Ash took up his cards and looked at them – it was a one-pair, which meant that two cards had the same number and all the rest was garbage. Immediately he began sending out his feelers, trying to sense what everyone else at the table was thinking; there were only four other players beside him and his psychic abilities had developed to the point at which he could maintain a scan on the thoughts of each, simultaneously. He knew exactly what cards everyone else had, and knew he was going to lose badly if he bet anything.

The first round saw Ash taking a card and finding it to be of no value whatsoever. The next, and the next… all were futile. After the first round he was the only one not to place anything in the betting pot – he cherished his twenty white tokens, which cost him a dear 100.00 each.

"You're not betting?" prodded the gambler to his right. "What are you here for? This is a gambling game, boy!"

Ash knew very well what it was, and in this case it was no gambling game. He politely turned down this offer with "You're much better than me, I'm a total newbie, so I'll just sit the first round through and give deference to you." This left the others with nothing to say to him, so they continued. In the final round the second last person backed out when the last suddenly decided to triple his bet. Even though Ash knew the man was bluffing, he couldn't compete himself because the man had a straight. The winner reaped in six white chips and twelve yellow ones, which amounted to 1200…

Hand two. Ash looked at his cards and saw an 8 of clubs, 6 of spades, K of diamonds, 5 of hearts, and 4 of hearts. He decided to stay in the running this time, for he saw the possibility of making a lucky break; he bet the one white token everyone else bet. The first round came, and he exchanged the K for a 3 of clubs; he put in two more white tokens, but appeared defensive and edgy. The next round came, and he exchanged the 3 for a 9 of diamonds. He put in another two white tokens, and was aware that he was already gambling a quarter of his money. What if the last one wasn't what he wanted either? He would be in big trouble with his mother, too, for having gambled away 500.00…

The final round came, and he got his lucky break: the 4 became a 7. A straight. Here was his chance! He sent out his feelers and discovered that no one else had as high a hand sequence. Knowing he would win, he then turned his attention to how much everyone else would bet maximum: 8 more whites, 10 more whites, 4 more whites, and 2 more whites. So if he bet 10, he would earn 10 more than what was so far in the pot; if he bet 8, then 16; if he bet 4, then 12; if he bet 2, then 8.

He pushed forward eight white tokens. As he expected, the other two thought little of him placed their bets, matching him, while the others dropped out. As this was the last round, the others revealed their cards. "Good… good," he said as he feigned to care about what the others displayed for their cards. He was cutting it close; one had a lower straight and one had a three of a kind. But it didn't matter, since he knew that before he made his biggest bet.

His return? A whopping 36 white tokens net gain, or 3600.00.

The other gamblers looked at him with dampened surprise, but easily took out another dozen tokens from their pockets. Evidently they had no end of money to play with.

As for Ash, he had enough with poker, the visions of his mother beating him over the head for having gambled still etched in his mind. He went on to a card game that was less risky: Bullshit.

The casino was extensive, and getting to the bullshit lounge meant cutting straight through all the bling-bling, cha-ching parts of the casino – the gambling machines. So along the way he traded in all the whites for pinks worth 200.00 each, getting 28 pink chips. He sat down at a table where the players had nearly finished, and then joined.

The objective of the game was to get rid of all your cards. A player plays 3's first; then the next player can choose to pass or play the next one up (a 4) or multiple. As the cards were placed face-down, you didn't actually have to play those cards. Whenever someone played a card, anyone suspecting it to be a lie could call out. And if it indeed was a lie, the one who played the card would have to take in the entire pile. Else, the challenger had to pick them all up.

"Let's gamble five whites," said one.

"Na, that's all you're going to gamble? This game takes quite some time, you know! At least ten pinks," Ash goaded him. The four players settled on a compromise of seven pinks each.

Ash opened his hand, then watched with interest as the first person played a 3 of spades, face up, as well as four other cards face down. "Five 3's!"

_Bullshit!_ Thought Ash, except for the fact that there were too many cards in circulation for there to be just one deck. He then sent out his probe – secretly of course – and discovered exactly which cards everyone else had in hand. And it was true, realized Ash as he looked through the first player's recent memory, that those were indeed all 3's.

"Two fours!" "Three fives!" "One six!"

"Bullshit!" called Ash.

"Why would you call BS on that?" asked another player, thoroughly baffled.

"Because it is," replied Ash. The one who had played a single six meekly picked up all eleven cards. "Four fours's!" called out Ash.

"Two fives!"… Back to Ash. "Three eights!"

"Bullshit!" called another player. "Darn…" Ash smiled; this person was clueless.

"My turn again," said Ash. "One nine!"…

"Two tens!" "Three jacks!" "Two queens!"

Ash feigned confusion. "Four queens—I mean, kings," he said.

Somebody fell for the bait. "Bullshit!"

Ash burst out laughing and turned his four cards over. They were indeed kings. "My turn again!"

On and on it went, Ash able to shift his cards on someone else every time it came to him, and it came to him every other time someone lied. Not every time, because he didn't want them to be entirely suspicious, but Ash did pretend to be an excellent eye-reader and memorizer. Soon Ash had discarded everything.

"I win!" he burst out laughing, before promptly realizing that a hundred irritated faces were turned his way. "I mean…" he failed meekly. "Well, that's winning fair and square for you," he lied as he picked up his seven chips and the 21 the others had bet. "Another cool 4200.00," Ash said to himself happily. _Now I'll be able to buy something good for Charmeleon. But wait… there's more! On to the next table!_

The next BS table operated under slightly different rules: they were playing with one deck of cards, so everything went faster at this table. And at this particular pro round each person was betting five blue chips (4000 per person), so Ash put in twenty pink chips. Ash rolled up his sleeves and prepared to bloat himself on the money…

The cards were dealt out. Ash picked up his hand, looked it over, and let his psychic potential flow into the minds of those nearby (ie. sitting at the table). This person had these cards, that person had those cards, that person over there…

The third person – the dealer – stiffened up the moment Ash tried to pry into his mind. Ash tried to look into the person's thoughts, to see what he was seeing… And all of a sudden there was a mental barrier that appeared out of nowhere and blocked him from accessing the man's mind. Ash tried harder—then disengaged when he heard the dealer shout out so that all could hear.

"Psychic in the house!"

Ash looked around in surprise and fear as everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at Ash with immense distaste, those at the table nearby with a fiery anger when they realized that they hadn't been beaten fair and square but had been ripped off by a psychic.

_Uh-oh…_


	7. The Celadon Gym

**The Quest 7: The Celadon Gym**

"Hey! Didn't you read the sign? Psychics not allowed in the casino!" someone shouted vehemently.

Ash knew that he was in big trouble and had to get out of it fast. Immediately he scooped up his money. It didn't matter that all through that time he hadn't stolen a chip. Without thinking of anything else, his self-protection plans that he had practiced numerous times lately kicked in. "Ralts—go!" He dropped the pokeball onto the ground; upon releasing the Ralts it flew back into his hand. ((Get us out of here!))

"Freeze!" shouted yet another Officer Jenny, aiming her gun at him.

But by then he was already back in the city square, lost in the crowd – and holding all his 49 pink chips, totaling some 9800.00 Kanto dollars. Or they would be, if he had had the luxury of trading in his chips for the actual money… Right now he had 200.00 in his debit card, the small bit of money that he hadn't converted to the white chips to begin with. He couldn't buy anything with that, so he could only hope that no one working at the casino's cash registry had memorized his appearance. He hoped to be able to get in, get the money, and get out in a blast.

But for the meantime, he was stuck with not being able to do much.

Of course, he was in a city, and a city _always _had something worth doing.

Celadon City was even larger than Viridian City, and Ash was astounded by the sheer ease with which one could get lost along its many boulevards. ((Let's check out the gym here, shall we?)) he asked Ralts, then proceeded on their way to the local gym.

"Huh?" was the first thing on his mind when he got there. This was no gym at all! Unlike at Viridian City, where it was serious business, Celadon's Rainbow Gym didn't seem like the place where one had a pokemon match at all. Instead, the overwhelming sensation was that of sweet fragrances of all varieties. The perimeter of the Gym was a sheltered hallway, giving the Gym the appearance of an oversized, artificial cell. All over the walls were draped flowering plants. The center of the Gym didn't even have a roof, or if it did it was retractable. In the stadium grew and lived a great many plants of all sorts, ranging from the standard Bulbasaur to the beautiful Bellossum to the carnivorous Victreebel. In the center was a massive fountain bubbling with cascading water. Yet nowhere was there any room for battle. Instead, there were quite a few disciples who were taking good care of their plant pokemon, as well as gardeners for those plants that were _actually_ plants.

Ash walked up to one of these plant-pokemon trainers. "Hey, what's going on here," he asked, quite embarrassed, as the lass turned to face him.

"Oh hi, you must be new to this city. Celadon Gym isn't really a fighting place, it's a place where plant-type pokemon can live in peace!" This was belied by the gurgling sound of a Bellsprout devouring a pesky mosquito mere inches from them. "And to feed themselves," she finished.

"Oh, that's great, but where's the gym leader? I need to challenge her to a match."

"Erika? Ha!" The lass burst out laughing. "Haven't you understood yet, you don't win Rainbow Badges by beating the gym leader!"

This took Ash by surprise. "Well then… how _can_ I get a badge?"

"First you have to get yourself a plant type pokemon; almost any type will do. Then you have to prove that you can take good care of it. You'll have to get that pokemon to be so at peace that it produces its own ultimate fragrance. The only test you have to pass is during Erika's daily checkup routine – if she can detect that ultimate fragrance – and she knows what it's like for every grass-type pokemon – then you'll get your badge. What do you think we're all doing here, sunbathing?" She explained smilingly.

"Oh, I see, so each gym has its own lesson! The one at Viridian is that one must play to the surrounding's advantages, like when Dugtrio took advantage of the already-extant tunnel network to avoid taking damage and to deliver unexpected attacks. The one at Celadon is that one must take good care of one's pokemon and nurse them to the utmost health!" Ash's face lit up like a light bulb.

"That's it!" the lass agreed.

"But…" Ash was depressed once again. This was yet another reminder of his defeat at the hands of Team Rocket… "I don't have a grass type pokemon. My only one was stolen from me."

"You mean Team Rocket? Those bastards…"

"Yeah, exactly, it was them," chimed in Ash.

"Well, for your information, Team Rocket's presence in Celadon City is considerably stronger than in Viridian. It's rumored that their headquarters is in this city."

"All right!" exclaimed Ash.

"What are you so happy about?" the lass was utterly perplexed.

"I… er… well… It's a long story, and I don't want to talk about it," muttered Ash, his shoulders drooping. "Well, thanks for the information, but I don't have _any _time to spare getting a grass-type pokemon and then trying my hand at lulling it into producing fragrances." And with that, he brusquely rushed out of the gym, determined to find out where Team Rocket's secret headquarters may be…

Then he smacked himself on the face for being such an idiot. Of course, it was _secret_, and the police stationed here have tried for years to locate the headquarters, so who was he to expect to find it in no time? Of course, he did have some psychic powers, and those certainly could come in advantageously when he had suspects to interrogate…

Which reminded him, of course, that he still had to practice psychics with his Ralts.

((All right Ralts, what was it you were going to teach me about telekinesis?))

((Well, you first have to stop acting like an idiot rushing off to the secret hideout,)) asserted Ralts, causing Ash to sweatdrop again.

((Okay, okay, I promise I will start to think before I act! Not like I didn't already…))

((First things first: let me explain what is different. Sensing the thoughts and emotions of other humans without finding yourself zeroing in on any particular one is an incredibly difficult task, as you may have discovered already. In the past five days you've been concentrating on trying to access the thoughts of anyone you passed on the road, and only toward the end were you able to gain much success out of it. You let the entire world come at you at its own pace, and finally understood what meditating is all about. You understood what it means to relax.

((But for telekinesis, it's entirely different. You have to be able to _concentrate_ on what you're trying to do – to lift a stone, for example. You do this by sending out your feelers – feelers you already developed when trying to sense others' thoughts – and direct them toward sensing the environment around you. Each environment has its own particular feel that is a combination of what makes up that environment. It's up to you to be able to find it and to lock on to that aura. This aura is intimately connected with the objects it lies within. Only then can you proceed to change anything using telekinesis. Are you ready?))

((Of course I am,)) replied Ash.

((Good. Then let us begin. Here is a leaf. It shall suffice, because it has a living component within it, though not as living as either humans or pokemon. Try to identify its aura.))

Ash did as Ralts told him to, and concentrated – on what? There was nothing to see, nothing to feel, nothing to sense! This aura that his pokemon referred – where was it? What did it look like? What was Ash supposed to be locking on to?

((This isn't very successful, hmm? Well, I guess you'll just have to practice some more. Else, you still won't be ready when the time comes…))

((Don't be pedantic to me, Ralts!)) Ash roared in anger, as he unslung his backpack and tried to hit Ralts. The pokemon of course promptly teleported away.

((You get to be pedantic to your Charmeleon, don't you?))

((How did you know – why you! From now on you're not to peek into my memories! I forbid it!))

The next moment Ralts did just that. Ash tried to resist by establishing a mental wall of his own, and felt that it was stronger than it ever had been before. For this time, he actually had a major reason to put his all, his being, into setting up this barrier.

Not that Ralts couldn't break it down, of course…

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

It was the next day. Ash had begun to make a little bit of progress at identifying the aura that pervades all things – something he definitely needed to be able to master if he were to attempt telekinesis whatsoever. To make matters worse, his Ralts was poking fun at his "weak mind" all through that time. It was only broken with eating a small meal, or training to identify any other half-psychics before his mental intervention set off their alarm.

For that was what the person back in the casino was: a half-psychic, in other words, one whose psi quota was under 10. Though they had limited ability, it was enough to get Ash into this fix…

Ash hadn't even wondered why the half-psychic was allowed to stay in the casino and play. Evidently he was a dealer, but that didn't mean no one else would have cried foul. So he concluded that it must have been because half-psychics could only take care of their own minds, and not expand to the world outside. Hence, the half-psychic never stood a chance of discovering what cards Ash had in his hand at that last round.

((Do you think we should teach you Substitute?)) asked Ash.

((Of course, but you don't have enough money--))

((Yeah I do! Err, I will have it soon, and right now I can get a credit line for up to 5000.00, and/or pawn my chips for at least that much, if not the full value. My personal net worth is 10 grand!))

((You're full of yourself. And no, I didn't mean you don't have enough money; you don't have enough to use half of it to apply a single TM on me. Use your money wisely, Ash.))

((Well, maybe we can use this money some other way,)) said Ash. ((But first, we must get that money back!)) They had already been walking in the direction of the casino; but as he approached he saw wanted posters of people who had stolen from the casino – and Ash was on that list! And it said: "Psychic – handle with care. He may attempt to trade 49 pink chips for Kanto dollars."

Ash was dismayed, and Ralts, sensing this problem, immediately teleported them back to the city center. ((What now? Obviously I won't be able to get my money out. And if news spreads any more, I may not be able to exchange my chips for money!))

((Then exchange your chips for white ones.))

((Oh yeah!)) Ash slapped himself on the face. _What an idiot I am! Subconsciously, people will only make the connection if I try to trade pink chips directly for cash, so…_

He began sending out his feelers for anyone who would be willing to trade chips. He knew that going to the pawnbroker would be a bad idea because his chips' value would be discounted by as much as 20. _Here's one!_ Amazed at his luck, he quickly approached the stranger.

"Oh, hi. I learned from other sources that you have white chips for sale. How much for them?"

"The going rate, 100.00 each, and I have a hundred chips," the man replied.

Ash made a fuss of looking through his backpack. "Aww, man, I don't have that much money! I just realized I had cashed in all my money for other chips! But uh, I do have 49 pink chips. Mind if we trade? You know what, just for you, I'll offer you a special deal: my 49 pink chips for 97 of your white ones."

Since the value for the chips were highly liquid the man immediately knew that this was a bargain that was worth 100 for him, since he could easily go to the casino and trade in. Before letting Ash change his mind, he jumped on the deal, and shook hands with the boy. "Deal."

And Ash walked away with 97 white chips. "Off to the next stranger," he said softly. _There's one!_ Thought Ash, having successfully utilized his psychic meditation ability to scan the thoughts of several people per second.

"Hey sir, how're you doing?"

"Just fine, how about you?"

"Fine too, but I have a deal that will make us both have an even better day. How would you like me to fork over 97 white casino chips in exchange for 9600.00?"

"It's a deal, pal," the man said, and Ash walked away with his debit card loaded by 9600.00.

Just as he was milling around the city center, he came across a market stall where a fisherman was promoting a poke-rod. This immediately lit one of the lights in Ash's head, as he recalled his earlier plan of getting a good water-type pokemon to complement his currently one-member pokemon team.

"Hey there, what do you have for sale?"

"Newly caught pokemon, and poke-rods! I assure you that all of these pokemon have received little training and so will take to a new master quite easily! Here we have a Squirtle lvl. 5, a Staryu, lvl. 7, a Goldeen, lvl. 3, a Horsea, lvl. 4, and a Tentacool, lvl. 10. Do any of these capture your interest? The Squirtle is a great all-around guardian to have, with the ability to easily put out fires as well as retreat inside its shell when in trouble. It also has the potential to evolve into a Wartortle and then a Blastoise, and that can get incredibly tough! The Staryu has immense regenerative powers as well as the ability to launch itself into the air, using its core jewel to launch light or with a TM, even psychic based attacks. The Goldeen packs a powerful drill of a punch, which only gets stronger when it evolves. It's also the best of the lot if you're out to enchant your favorite girl! Horsea is a good combination of ink screen defense, rough scales, and water hose, and Tentacool is a water and poison hybrid!"

Ash hadn't heard much after that part about the Staryu. _It has psychic potential? Could that mean that it is a water/psychic hybrid? If so, I can add it to my team and it'll be just right!_ Of course, the stark reality was that this Staryu the peddler wanted to sell was totally inexperienced, and he didn't want to have to start training it from scratch. He had enough of that with his Charmeleon and his Ralts…

"Why, what's the matter?" asked the worried fisherman.

The thought of Charmeleon had moved Ash to tears. He had already been separated from his long-time guardian for so long, he didn't know if they would find each other again…

"No, I can't buy any of those pokemon," thought Ash at last. _But if I have one of those rods I'll be able to catch my own pokemon! And hopefully in that case I'll have the opportunity to get the one I really want, or maybe even get a higher-level Staryu to begin with!_ "I'll buy one of your spare poke-rods," Ash offered when he saw that the price tag for the item was only 999.99.

"There now, I knew you'd be one of my favorite customers," remarked the fisherman.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Can I PLEASE buy a grass-type pokemon!?" pleaded Ash to three of the lasses in the Celadon gym, all of whom were disgusted with his asking this question over and over. Two of them had even gotten together and whispered comments about what a loser Ash was not to even have a single grass-type pokemon.

Ash needed the pokemon if he hoped to get the Rainbow Badge Erika gave out, and he made it painfully obvious too. Unbeknownst to him, hidden out of sight at the rooftop to the no-ceiling gym were a few people shrouded in darkness, listening to every word that was being said below.

"Shut up youngster, if you aren't able to raise your own pokemon, don't try to bribe yourself a Rainbow Badge!" came a high-pitched voice from the doorway.

"Who's that?" asked Ash.

The lass right next to him responded, "That's Erika. She's the one who will be inspecting our pokemon to decide if their trainers qualify for the badge yet."

Ash turned to look at the newcomer, a petite girl with flowers in her hair and a flowing lavender dress. Svelte and graceful, she seemed to fit Ash's stereotype for what to expect from a grass-type pokemon trainer. A Shaymin cuddled in her arms. The tiny gratitude pokemon didn't seem all that pleased right now. "Oh." Ash's heart sank as he saw Erika give him a death-glare. "She really means it about taking good care of your _own _pokemon," remarked Ash.

"And you better believe it," finished the gym leader herself as she marched up.

"Well, you see, I don't have any grass-type pokemon," said Ash. And he was about to blurt out too that he didn't see much use for them anyways, seeing as how they're only really good against dark-type pokemon and those weren't too prevalent around here. And although grass pokemon were also supposedly good against earth and water types, that was way over exaggerated. Nature really couldn't do too much against unnatural quantities of floodwaters or avalanches.

"Well then quit whining to me here and go catch your own grass-type pokemon," Erika gave him a glare.

Ash decidedly did not like this trainer, but didn't tell that to the Ralts sitting on his shoulder. "Fine then, I'll leave, and just so you know, when I say I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it."

"YOU'RE NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING!!" screamed a rather familiar voice as suddenly the doors to the entrance of the gym burst open, and out stormed Officer Jenny and four police grunts.

"Officer Jenny!?" Ash was taken off guard by this. _How did she know to come find me here?_ "What brings you here in this sunny weather?" he began, while simultaneously telling Ralts, ((get us both out of here the moment we're in real trouble.))

She pointed her gun at Ash, as did the other officers. "You're under arrest for—" The last few words languished in her mouth as she stared at where Ash had just been. He was gone!

Ash and his Ralts appeared right behind Officer Jenny, and comically asked, "Hmm? For what?"

Officer Jenny shrieked out in surprise and rounded on him, gun pointing straight at his chest. "Don't you dare try anything, or else you'll regret it," she intoned. In agreement the Arcanine beside her growled angrily.

"Uh… You know, I still don't know why you're out to arrest me," he feigned, secure in his knowledge that he could get away easily.

"As I was saying you're under arrest for—" Officer Jenny looked around, trying to find Ash, and saw him and his Ralts drinking from a plastic bottle on the sofa not far away. "Why you! Would you stop making life hard for me!" she said pathetically, and the grunts all sweatdropped. "…For stealing money from the casino!"

"Exactly," said a nasty-sounding voice from somewhere distant in agreement.

"See what I mean?" said Officer Jenny. "You can run, but you can't hide forever. You're now in officially big trouble. For trying to evade arrest, you're now in double trouble!" She announced coldly.

Just then the two shadowy figures watching from the rooftop jumped down ninja-style, ultra-balls in hand. Although both were cloaked in black, one was clearly male and the other female. Neither looked pleasant. "And now, prepare for trouble," said one in an icy tone.

"And you've already made that double," said the other...


	8. The Secret Weapon

**The Quest 8: The Secret Weapon**

Flash back to slightly over half a month ago…

"Yay! Mom, look!" said Kay cheerily as she raised up her Game-boy. 'Kay has just defeated Sabrina!' "I'm the best! I'm the best!" she cried out as if there were no tomorrow.

"Yes, you are," Delia comforted her daughter with a graceful smile. Nearby, a Mr. Mime was helping with the dishes, their new guardian pokemon after the family Charmander had gone off with Ash on his journey. It was a cold night, and the wind howled through an open window. "Dearie, did you open the windows?"

"Yeah, what about that?"

"Remember to close them for the night. You wouldn't want burglars to get in."

"Too late," said a third voice in a somber feminine tone, frightening eleven-year-old Kay into screaming. Mr. Mime dropped his dishes, which shattered against the metal lining of the sink. From upstairs came two figures shrouded in black. "Prepare for trouble!"

"And make that double!" said a masculine voice.

"AHH!!' screamed Kay, dropping her game-boy as she ran into the next room, shaking in fear. _Burglars!?_

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!" This was most definitely another team.

"James!"

"Team rocket blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

Kay turned to the guardian pokemon. "Mr. Mime, Barrier, now!" Mr. Mime made a few silent gestures, and suddenly an invisible wall lurched straight at the team, knocking them back upstairs. The woman was not so lucky; her foot got caught between the invisible wall and the next step up. The barrier put immense pressure on her foot. She burst out hollering in pain before fainting on the spot.

"THAT'S RIGHT!!" roared a Gastly, appearing through the staircase as if it didn't exist. The blackened ghost pokemon shot a single gloating look at Jessie, then started making incredibly distorted faces at Mr. Mime. Its mouth stretched this way and that, it floated here and there, it pulled its own face around and around, and at the same time made eerie noises. Mr. Mime looked at it, then kept looking at it, entranced by what the ghost was doing, before doubling over in laughter. It had entirely forgotten about the burglars that were in the room..

"Mr. Mime! Get a hold of yourself!" screamed Delia, but it was useless. Kay screamed in fright at the appearance of the ghost in real life, petrified. Delia ran out the door in terror, shouting to everyone in hearing distance to help repel Team Rocket.

"And now, for Mr. Mime," said James, taking out a pokeball and throwing it at the hysterical pokemon. Suddenly, through the cupboard shot out a streak of scintillating light, knocking off the pokeball's trajectory. The Team Rocket veterans knew immediately what it meant. "Go, Golem! Crack that pokeball!" A round, lumbering ball of rock conglomerate nearly two meters tall appeared, standing on petrified legs. It thrashed its way over to the cupboard and with a single thrust smashed through the cupboard and broke the pokeball lying within.

"Go pokeball!" Another one hit Mr. Mime, and the psychic pokemon was so riddled with laughter it was impossible to for him to resist. It was sucked inside.

Kay screamed out again and again as first the Golem appeared, then it smashed through wood and pokeball, and then as the guardian was captured by Team Rocket. This turned James's attention to the youngster. "What have we here? Ah yes, you were the one who ordered that pathetic Mr. Mime to use Barrier on my comrade. For that you will pay – not with your life, but with your liberty!"

Kay screamed yet again and rushed out of the room, toward the front door. Long before she had reached it, an Arbok had materialized at the entrance. The giant cobra-like pokemon lashed out with its poisonous fangs, forcing Kay back to James, who had a sardonic grin on his face and yet another pokeball in hand. "It's not right to harm ladies, so… Go, Hypno!" A yellowish pokemon appeared, standing erect, and dropped a short chain ending in a ring. It began to swing the ring back and forth…

Immediately Kay turned away from it. Then she heard a clicking sound – the safety of a gun. "If you value your life, turn back and look at the Hypno," James demanded, while simultaneously spraying a Revive on Jessie.

Kay had no option but to turn around. She was terrified, knowing that she was about to hand over her freedom, and her life, to these totally untrustworthy strangers. And yet… and yet none of that seemed to matter any more in the space of a few seconds. Her mind calmed down quickly, and the intellectual activity whirring through her tired mind came to a halt. The melodious pendulum motion of the swinging ring was so incredibly soothing…

"Jessie, you all right?" asked James.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said the woman. "Did we succeed?"

"You bet. The boss will be happy with this girl, I believe. She's now completely hypnotized. Come on, lass."

"Why of course," answered Kay, now suddenly delighted with the prospect of leaving home.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

It was a dim place where she finally came back to her senses. _Where am I? _she asked herself. She tried to move—and it was then that she discovered something cold and scaly was binding her hands to her sides. It seemed all coiled around her, and she could hear sibilant noises… Just then an instinct came to her. It was an Ekans! "AHHH!!" Kay screamed as she struggled to free herself of its binds.

"She's awake, boss," said a woman a short distance away. There was a grunt, and the footsteps of high-heels. The door opened, letting in the light from the adjacent room. It was blinding, but Kay could not cover her eyes. A gentle hand pulled her off the bed and dragged her along the hallway. "Here we are," the woman said, turning her attention to a gigantic contraption placed in the middle of an otherwise empty chamber.

"Where am I?"

"That's classified information."

Kay's fear flooded back. "What are you going to do with me!?" she asked pleadingly.

"Don't fear, girl. You won't be injured. Instead, you will be… perfected."

_HUH!?_

The woman – who appeared to be a researcher – pushed a button that caused the cylindrical glass shell surrounding the machine to open. There was enough room inside for a person to stay in. The machine itself was suspended high above, fitting within the cylinder perfectly, and looked like it was made to descend. It looked like an immensely complex device.

"Ekans, you're done," the woman told the pokemon. It immediately unraveled and postured threateningly at Kay, who instinctively backed away – into the cylinder. She belatedly realized that it was akin to a prison, as the glass shell closed back in. Suddenly there was no sound coming from outside. She banged on the glass in fury, but could not break it. She was trapped! The next moment the machine had come down on her head.

"Ahh! Get it off of me!" she screamed, though no one heard her. She tried to push the machine away. However, the sheer weight of the machine meant that her flailing and pushing amounted to nothing. Soon it had descended to the level of her shoulder, her head fitting neatly into the socket at the center.

"Let the process begin," said the researcher to herself, and pressed a button. The next moment Kay, still standing, fell into a dreamy sort of sleep.

Suddenly the machine came right back up, and the glass shell opened up. Kay didn't know how long she was out, but the moment she came back to her senses she rushed out of the machine. There was a strange whirring noise coming from it. Several researchers analyzing the machine gasped and muttered something to each other, then one of them hurriedly grabbed Kay and dragged her out of the room. A few seconds later the machine crashed and burned at the bottom of the glass cylinder.

The researchers shook their heads. "For some reason every time the machine is done it goes into overdrive and breaks," one muttered.

"Let GO OF ME!!" shrieked Kay. "Haven't you had enough!? That machine broke because you guys are all evil – evil to the point of performing experiments on subjects against their will!"

The scientists looked at each other with questioning glances. "Evil? Who's evil? We're not evil; we're good!"

"Yes you are evil! That's just what everyone evil says," protested Kay.

"Uhh… Including you, maybe?" tentatively asked another scientist.

"Aargh! Are you saying I'm evil!? You BASTARD!" She looked around, saw a stray pokeball, and bonked the scientist on the head with it before he could react.

"ALL RIGHT THAT'S ENOUGH!!" roared the loudspeaker. Everyone stopped in their tracks. Kay was bewildered. "Who's that?"

"I am your master," said a man through the loudspeaker, now in a smooth and more sustainable tone. "Come to me. You will find me at the end of the hallway."

Kay was bent on getting revenge anyway, so she rushed down the corridors until she got to the double doors at the far end. She banged the door open, ready to beat down whoever it was who had masterminded her capture. Was she furious! The 'boss' was in a swiveling chair and had turned away from her. "Show me your face!" Kay shouted at him.

The stranger did so, and turned around with a smile. "Welcome to the Team," he complimented.

It took Kay completely off guard. "Team? Oh, that's right, Team Rocket. You bunch of sniveling little thieves—"

The bodyguards on both sides of the boss stiffened up, but didn't take any action. The boss smiled. "I see that the propaganda has had its effect on you," he noted.

Kay stopped halfway through her tirade. "Propaganda?"

"Sure, Kay. We're not half as bad as we are made out to be. It's just that the ideologies we have are somewhat different from the one that the rest of society upholds. I'm sure that you will come to see things from my point of view over time. But first, would you like to know what effects the 'experiment', as you say, has had on you?"

Kay crossed her arms. "Go ahead, tell me."

"You have been perfected."

"Blah-blah."

"Until this time, pokemon and people have always been in their separate worlds. Humans could not be as pokemon were. They were totally different, even though they coexisted. The logical capabilities of the human mind combined with the near-magical properties of the pokemon have always been separate, always half-perfect. Hence, for a long time we have searched for a way to merge these two halves into one. You have been hybridized – our first success. The very fact that I am deigning to speak to you is because you are not as ordinary as you may think you are. You are now half human, half pokemon."

"How can you do this to me!?" exclaimed Kay in outrage. "This is blasphemy!"

"That is only in the eye of the beholder. To you right now, you may be an abomination. But to me, you are worthy of the highest praise, you are accomplishment personified…"

"Quit the jabbering, whatever your name is! I demand to be restored to normal!"

"Whew, something _did _go wrong with the experiment, you seem to have quite a temper," the boss joked. "I think it would be good for both of us, and not a waste of time for either, if you took me on my word for a few days and try out what it is like to be half lass, half dark."

"Dark?"

"Time to break it to you, lass. The part we ingrained into your mind, and into your body, is the core component of what makes a pokemon a dark-type pokemon. You've played the games. You should know what a dark-type pokemon is capable of doing."

"Actually, I am not familiar with that…"

"Well then, let me explain. Actually, the explanation may go faster if you felt it yourself. Guards…" He made a gesture with his right hand. The bodyguards grunted, then walked ominously toward her. "Let's say these two are your enemies. Not really true enemies, so we don't want any killing to happen, and of course we're all part of the Team. But let's say they are, and they are about to beat you up –" Kay looked at the guards and saw that they brandished not guns, but whips – "What will you be able to do?" the boss asked rhetorically.

Kay was terribly afraid once again. She had never, as far as she remembered, ever been whipped, and even then only by parents (if they ever did whip her). But these… These two seemed to be frightfully cold people ready to abuse her…

"Come on, I know you're a success, don't let me down now," the boss said. Kay was so confused by what the boss had been saying just now that she didn't notice how close the guards had gotten to her.

PIAAA! Hard leather connected with soft, bare flesh. "AAAH!!" screamed Kay in pain. _Oh dear, that really hurt!!_ PIAAA! "AAH!!" PIAAA! "AAAAAAAH!! Please, make it stop, make it STOP!!" Kay pleaded.

The boss looked at her with a grimace. "You shouldn't be pleading to make it _stop_," he said frankly. "I don't get it. Researcher! You sure the report was accurate?" he called out to someone out of sight.

"Yeah, I'm sure!"

PIAAA! PIAAA! PIAAA! PIAAA! PIAAA! "AAAH!!" Kay screamed desperately and helplessly… but it quickly turned into a relieved, ecstatic sigh… "Ahhhhhhhhh…" Kay collapsed onto the floor dreamily, not even desiring to get up. "Mmm… That feels nice…" The two guards tried even harder, now very frustrated that their actions weren't having the anticipated effect. Streaks of red appeared wherever the whips hit, but vanished mere seconds later.

PIAAA! "You see?" said the boss. PIAAA! "Being a dark type pokemon makes you incredibly resilient to pain, one form of it." PIAAA! "In fact, it makes you _love _it!" PIAAA! "And that's not all!" PIAAA! "Dark pokemon have a psychic power different from Psychic pokemon," PIAAA! "that allows you to extend your mind into the world beyond—" PIAAA! "—And inflict pain on other living beings!" PIAAA! "Try it, Kay!" PIAAA!

"Why would I do that?" asked Kay, thoroughly enjoying what would to others have been absolute torture.

"Guards… stop," the boss said.

"Hey, I didn't say you two could stop! I was feeling fine up till a moment ago! GRR!!" Kay shouted angrily. She gave them an incredibly intent stare, and suddenly her naturally blue eyes flashed brilliantly.

An invisible beam shot out of her eyes and into the guard to her left. Immediately his mind was wracked with pain, and he dropped his whip screaming "Aah!"

_Ooh, that felt really GOOD,_ thought Kay's mind, now in a sadistic frenzy. _Too good to be true, but oh well!_

She turned her attention to and stared at the guard on her right, who backed off in fear before suddenly buckling and collapsing onto his knees, his hands pressed on his head as a sudden migraine took place. "Actually, I agree now, being half-Dark _is _wonderful. Ahhh…."

"NOO!! Make it stop, boss, make it STOP!!" screamed the guard pathetically.

"Hmm. Kay, how about you release by bodyguard from his torment?" asked the boss smoothly.

Okay," said Kay, and willed herself to stop. The pain stopped, but the pleasure Kay felt also subsided, which she already knew she didn't want to happen. "Hmm. That felt good just then…"

"Kay," said the boss, suddenly getting serious, "You _do _know that most people in the world don't like being helplessly tortured like that. You will have to learn to restrain yourself, no matter now good it feels to inflict such pain. And because hybrids the likes of you should not even exist, you will have to keep out of detection. Being a dark hybrid has its good sides and its bad sides," he lectured.

"Well I thank you for those good sides," said Kay, happily getting on her knees and kowtowing in thanks.

"I believe in due time you will discover what the bad sides are. But first, don't you think you should do us a few favors to show your gratitude?"

"What is it you want done?"

"I want you to join the Team and help us snare pokemon. That's what we have to do for a living, stealing and reselling mature pokemon caught in ultra-balls."

Suddenly Kay's dreamy expression changed into a snarl and she jumped to her feet. "You scum, you think I'll help you _steal?! _No way!" Immediately she channeled her mental focus into sending a dark pulse at the boss, expecting him to reel back in pain and give up attempting to make her do horrible things.

Nothing happened.

The boss shook his head. "Don't you think I would have taken precautions against exactly that? Kay, you've only just been hybridized, and you're _already _out to challenge me? Take note that though you may be cut out for great things, you're still a weakling. Though, before I let you loose and you cause havoc within the Team, there's some things I must show you. Maybe it's not too early to show you the bad side of being a dark hybrid." He took out a remote control, and pressed a button.

Suddenly a terrible pain wracked Kay's body. But instead of the masochistic pleasure she had been expecting from such pain, only the sheer pain registered. It wasn't your ordinary, punch-in-the-face, excitatory pain – it was a strange sensation that Kay had never experienced before. It lacked all the sharpness of normal pain, and yet it was still intense and throbbed. Men would recognize it as akin to being kicked in the crotch. And it immediately upon its onset, Kay fell to her knees, defeated. "Oh, please, STOP!" she screamed.

The boss pressed the remote again, and suddenly the effect was gone. As such, it still took a while for Kay to recover enough to stand up. "Don't try anything you know you shouldn't. I can use this remote no matter where you are, and I have backup remotes to boot.

"There are two types of pain – excitatory and depressive. Dark pokemon may be immune to the former, but they are exceptionally vulnerable to the latter. This makes them vulnerable to light and plant types, and rightly so," explained the boss. "They are total opposites. Why does fire fear water? It just does. But dark pokemon are terribly afraid of the light, especially the strength of sunlight, which is why they don't venture out much in daytime."

Kay was aghast. "I will be afraid of sunlight!? How am I supposed to get _anything _done!?"

"Stay out of lit areas until night. In your chest I've surgically placed a series of lights. Just that is enough to debilitate you, or perhaps send you into a coma. So I suggest that you don't get on my bad side, hmm?"

Helpless and absolutely terrified, Kay knelt before the boss in submission. "Yes, master."

"Good girl. Now get up, I don't want you to stay to mortified for the rest of your life. Here are twelve poke-balls. In each is contained a high-level pokemon that will help you in your tasks from this point forth. You may take any six you desire. Come in, Eric."

"Eric at your service!" saluted a man who had just walked in.

"Kay, Eric will be your comrade for now. He may be just a recent Team cadet, but that still means he knows a lot about type advantages and pokemon battles. He too has six pokemon, and your team, like most other teams, has an additional, mascot pokemon that never resides in a pokeball, a lvl. 50 Beautifly in this case. Don't try anything on Eric – that Beautifly can take you down with ease with its Morning Sun ability, and it can cast it 24/7."

Kay timidly approached the display stand and looked through the names of the pokemon offered. Silently, she attached six of them to her pocket, all the while muttering, "why does the mascot pokemon just _have_ to be a Beautifly!?".

"Good girl. Now, your first task is something I want done to ensure your continued cooperation. You are to abduct Delia Ketchum and bring her to a specific drop-off location. You will now memorize the Team chant. After that you will be rendered unconscious so that you will not remember how to find your way back to this installation. Now listen…" The boss turned on a recording device on his desk, and it started to play.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"Make it double!"…


	9. Battle of Celadon Gym

**The Quest 9: Battle at Celadon Gym**

"To infect the world with devastation,"

"To blight all people in every nation,"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love,"

"To extend our wrath to the stars above!"

"Jessie!" said the female Team Rocket member, though as Ash could recall she was a lot fatter than back in Viridian Forest – a lot fatter.

"James!" said the male. This one was considerably shorter than the James back then – so Ash knew that this was altogether a different team. And yet, they still used 'Jessie' and 'James'…

"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"That's Right!" exclaimed what seemed like a two purplish, cratered, and connected balls that floated high above them.

"A Wheezing!" exclaimed Ash, amazed. Every Team Rocket group seemed to have a powerful pokemon!

"We want your Ralts," demanded Jessie at the same time.

"Team Rocket values its teleportation skills," added James.

The next instant all the police officers had their guns out and aimed at the two intruders. At the same time both Jessie and James seemed to know that it was about to happen. They ordered to the Wheezing, "Wheezing, Destiny Bond!" The floating stink bomb released several stars that immediately impacted the police before vanishing into their skins to work the ability's magic.

The police grunts came _very _close to shooting their guns and killing themselves from the extremely unusual magic of that spell. They were at a standoff, neither side wanting to do anything for fear of receiving a deadly reprisal from anyone who had a death wish. Team Rocket then pulled out their own guns and aimed them at the police.

A shrill cry broke the terrifying standoff. Out of nowhere, right above the five police officers, appeared an insidious-looking Misdreavus as it screeched at Team Rocket. Boundless terror struck Ash's mind, rendering him temporarily paralyzed – and the next moment Team Rocket had its weapons trained on Ash – who knew immediately that he didn't have a pokemon that knew such an ability. But he had other defenses – ((Teleport!))

The next moment Jessie was startled into firing her gun by Ash's – and his Ralts's – sudden disappearance. They reappeared upon the rooftop, this time easily ducking behind the eaves of the roof and avoiding Team Rocket's infuriated shooting. But to Ash, it was still a miracle to have avoided such a horrible fate…

The grass pokemon that had earlier populated the Gym had by now fled in every conceivable direction, bumping into each other in their haste to reach safe haven. No longer were they producing any sweet fragrances--

By then the police had backed up behind a wall and launched their pokeballs. "Go, Steelix! Bind those two criminals!" shouted Officer Jenny, and simultaneously there appeared a massive, steel-covered Onyx – or what once was an Onyx. Its plating was steel all over.

PPT! PPT!

Minor scratches showed on Steelix's body where Team Rocket had fired their guns, evidently having no other target. Steelix reared up in anger before pouncing on the duo. It suddenly lost its way when Wheezing let out a terrific jet of smoke that blackened the vision of everyone in the gym despite the shining of the noon sun's rays. Steelix thrashed about, but clearly missed its target.

"Go, Fearow! Gust away the smokescreen!" shouted a police grunt; a split second later the furious-looking bird had materialized, and aided by the smokescreen, it spiraled into the air, before launching a vicious whirlwind that quickly blasted away the smokescreen. James aimed his gun at the bird…

PPT!

The bullet hit nothing as suddenly Fearow turned into a flash of red and was recalled by its trainer. In the three seconds that followed, over a dozen other pokemon were summoned into battle, most of them able to contribute little due to their vulnerability to bullets. Another grunt threw his pokeball into the large fountain in the center of the gym, revealing a Starmie. It began systematically shooting bubble-beams at its targets from underwater, even as Jessie's bullets hit the surface of the water and upon collision scattered into fine dust. The Misdreavus fired a shadow ball at, then began trading attacks with Team Rocket's Cloyster. Abra too joined the fray, using telekinesis to shoot spent bullets without the need for a gun, albeit at only a tenth of a normal bullet's speed.

"Steelix, attack now!" ordered Officer Jenny. The Steelix prepared to fall down upon the duo, instantly killing them, when—

**BOOM!!**

The Wheezing had exploded, its internals literally ripped apart as all the gases within self-combusted. There was very little of Wheezing's exterior skin left after the detonation…

But the power of the explosion had sent shockwaves into the ground, ripping the earth apart and even causing the steel plating on Steelix to buckle. The pokemon came crashing down to the ground, split in two and with parts flaked and burned off of its body entirely, to lay scattered all over the gym. They would have to rush the near-dead pokemon over to the poke-Center within a minute or else Steelix would be dead for good…

"Make a run for it, Jenny!" shouted a grunt. All in tears, Jenny recalled the broken pokemon back inside her ultra-ball and made a dash for the exit.

"Oh no you don't!" screamed James, launching another pokeball through the air. It clicked open behind the police officers, revealing a Charmeleon.

Immediately it created a smoke screen so dense the police officers could only fire blindly and, of course, nothing hit. Then fire began to billow out of the blackened passageway, preventing Jenny from exiting. "Go, Squirtle!" said Jenny. "Water gun on that Charmeleon! That will scare it away or knock it out!" The next moment Squirtle opened its mouth and a forceful stream of water shot out into the place where the fire pokemon must be lurking. Seconds continued to pass as the battle in the main field ground to a halt – everyone being either trying to avoid being hit or was immune to being hit or were marked with Destiny Bond.

Then through the smoke and steam the Charmeleon advanced, not the slightest perturbed by the water attacks it had suffered, and seeming to have instead enjoyed a bath. Which, for a Charmeleon, was a _very_ unusual thing. Although the officers were about to shoot at it, the Charmeleon got them first with a terrifically hot smokescreen directly in the face, forcing them to retreat.

Ash had been looking at the battle from behind the eaves of the roof during this whole time and perked to attention when he saw that Charmeleon come out of the steam. This was one tough Charmeleon! It reminded him of his own Charmeleon, who, when he parted (and he tried not to cry at this), could shake off water as if it were nothing.

_Perhaps this is my pokemon!_

"Hey, Charmeleon! Can you hear me?" It looked up at him, distracted. "You're my Charmeleon, aren't you? Don't you still remember me?"

"Yes, I do," replied Charmeleon glumly. Upon noticing this, Jessie stopped trading bullets with a police grunt to press a button on her ultra-ball. Suddenly the Charmeleon roared in agony and fell flat on its face. When it picked itself up a moment later, its eyes were filled with hatred – and that hate encompassed Ash as well. It leered, causing Ash to shudder in fear, before launching a stream of hot fire down the passageway toward the police, alighting all the plants on the walls.

"Oh no, Charmeleon!" Ash raged helplessly. His guardian was being forced to obey Jessie's orders through the power of her ultra-ball! Only now, when he saw it being used, did Ash make the connection with back at the department store, where the salesperson had mentioned the ultra-ball's torture and torment abilities… "Charmeleon! This is your one chance to go free, you hear me? Stop obeying Team Rocket!"

Charmeleon turned its head toward and prepared to attack Team Rocket, before it succumbed to another shock of pain. It whimpered, turning back to the police officers…

((Ralts! Ralts!? Get back here!)) commanded Ash, noticing that the Ralts had teleported out of the Gym and was steadily racing away from the battle site. It turned around and balked. ((Ralts, I'm counting on you to help me, please don't just leave! You've got to get Charmeleon out of there! I know teleportation can only be used on those who are willing, but deep inside Charmeleon is willing to leave! I have pokeballs that I can use to reverse-capture Charmeleon!))

The pokemon sensed that Ash's emotions were true and nodded slightly, its eyes still hidden behind its greenish cap. It suddenly vanished, to reappear by Ash's side on the rooftop.

Ralts turned its squinted eyes toward the reptile, and in the flash of an eye it was gone from the alleyway, reappearing right next to Ash. Charmeleon opened its mouth and incinerated the first pokeball Ash tossed at it. "Charmeleon! You'll be okay once you get inside my pokeball! Now stop burning them! Just give me one chance!" Ash screamed at it, aware that one more blast could send him tumbling off the roof.

"What the…?" screamed out Jessie upon noticing what was happening. She turned her gun in Ash's direction…

Ash noticed just in time, but knew he couldn't dodge it – he couldn't get to the other side of the roof in time, nor could he give the order to Abra either. So he immediately did the only viable option he had.

Much like what he had done to the spoon back at Pallet, he bent the gun into a 90-degree angle.

Jessie gave one horrified look at the useless gun, and threw it as hard as she could at Ash. Ralts's flat red horn lit up, and the broken rifle stopped in midair before clattering onto the ground.

"Jessie, if you don't give me the ultra-ball you used to capture Charmeleon I'm going to snap your arm just like I did to that gun!" Meanwhile Ralts continued playing a game of dodge with the Charmeleon…

PPT!

Ash narrowly avoided James's gun by ducking behind the roof. "All right, that's it!" He focused intently on Jessie's arm, remembering how he had managed to do it the two times before, and tried to snap it.

Nothing happened.

_Darn it, why did this engagement have to happen so early? Give me another week, and I could have perfected this skill to the point that I could break her arm much like straw!_

((Ralts, get me that ultra-ball!))

Jessie clenched her fist fight around the ultra-ball and successfully stopped it from being levitated over to Ash. _Darn it! Psychic power is too weak! _He took out another pokeball and tossed it at the Charmeleon when it was distracted yet again by Ralts teleporting. Suddenly a streak of prismatic light struck out of Jessie's ultra-ball, going through the roof tiles, and intercepted Ash's pokeball, knocking it out of his hand. The next moment Charmeleon looked at a shaken Ash with a glare that practically froze him to the spot.

"Ha!" shouted Jessie in delight. "My ultra-ball's hold on that Charmeleon prevents you from capturing it!" She waved it over her head in exultation while Ash stood rooted to the spot in dismay.

The next moment Ralts had directed a spent bullet out on the barren field directly at the ultra-ball, striking it from behind and causing the device to shatter. Just then Jessie seemed to remember that Ash's Ralts hadn't been the target of either side's Destiny Bond attacks. Very shaken by being very nearly hit by a bullet, Jessie forgot all about the broken ultra-ball and fled down their side of the corridor, recalling her other pokemon along the way (most of which had sat out the firefight in some safe alcove or other).

The Ralts had a very pleased expression on its face, and Ash delighted in seeing it. ((You were wonderful, Ralts! Thank you so much!)) It basked in its glory…

Then suddenly it began to radiate light. Within moments it had become almost blindingly white; as Ash squinted, he could see that the Ralts had begun to metamorphose… into a Kirlia! The pokemon grew considerably taller, though still quite shorter than Ash was. Out of the back of its green head-cap grew a short green cape that resembled a girl's hair. The dress split and folded up into a miniskirt, revealing long, slender green legs. The head-cap had split at the front to take the form of green bangs, and the red flat horns had rotated to either side, resembling ears.

The newly metamorphosed Kirlia turned its attention to James, who was hiding behind a wall and directing his own pokemon. Its two horns lit up, and suddenly the commands the remaining Team Rocket member was giving became a load of nonsense. Several pokemon balked at his commands or listened to them, resulting in serious harm. Confusedly the pokemon began a hasty retreat back to James, who was utterly baffled by how meaningless everything had suddenly become.

"Yeah Ralts, that's the way to do it!" said Ash. _I mean… Kirlia…_

Ash tossed a third pokeball at his former guardian pokemon and this time it quite easily submitted to returning to Ash's side. The pokeball, now filled, returned to Ash's hand. "All right!" he said, striking a victory posture. Then he looked down and saw that the police grunts were aiming their guns at him now. "Whoa! Take it easy now…" All four of the police officers seemed to know enough about commando warfare to avoid getting hit.

"Stop it and put your guns down!" Officer Jenny ordered them all. "By helping out our side in the battle against our mutual enemy Team Rocket, and helping us obtain a kill against James here, Ash has proven that he is not the criminal we originally thought he was. Upon my authority I hereby exonerate Ash from any punishment he might have received for stealing from the casino."

Ash turned all bashful. "Gee, thanks!..." His Kirlia spun around shyly in a victory dance.

Officer Jenny didn't even hear him. Instead she looked at the ultra-ball in her hand, and sighed. The next moment she fell to her knees, weeping. From what Ash could tell, her Steelix had not been rescued in time and was now dead.

A flash later, Ash, his Kirlia, and his Charmeleon were all at the corridor where the police were lamenting over the death of the Steelix and using full revives on other downed pokemon. It was the period of weeping, the aftermath of a major battle. Ash approached slowly and sorrowfully, aware that he was the catalyst for this entire battle. "I'm… sorry," he told Officer Jenny, not knowing what words he could use to ease the pain.

And after all, he couldn't. He hadn't lost anything, and had gained his guardian pokemon back…

A few minutes later, after Jenny had wiped the tears off her face and the other policemen had finished clearing up, Erika came out of a hidden trapdoor. "Well? Is it all over?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, we beat 'em," replied Ash in his most upbeat tone.

Erika, who knew nothing about battles, took this to mean utter, total victory, and leapt for joy. "Well then you're all heroes for having saved the day!" she said gaily. "Go Shaymin, use your aromatherapy on those poor pokemon!" The floral pokemon jumped off Erika's arms and approached the grunts' pokemon, chirping happily as she released a cloud of potently medicinal spores. Within moments the paralyzed, burned, and poisoned had recovered entirely.

"Thank you, Erika… but actually…" Ash pointed over to Jenny, who continued to sob.

Erika sweatdropped. "Uh… Sorry for having been so ecstatic earlier," she said.

"It's nothing," Ash said, ready to leave. His words were like acid. "I know for certain that this is one _peace area _I do not want to return to."

"Wait!" Ash whirled around. Erika was looking at him with a hint of something in her eyes. "I still think nurturing pokemon is a world better than having them fight and kill each other. But… You're still my hero. What's your name?" An embarrassed Ash answered. "Well Ash… Thank you so much for having fought to defend this place. You may not have done much to nurture your pokemon and make them grow into their best, but I greatly value your help today. I think it makes up for the fact that you've yet to get a plant-type pokemon. I heard what happened earlier. And from what you said I realized that you really care about your Charmeleon. It may be, in one respect, the best that any pokemon may be able to expect from a trainer. Here."

She took out a badge from her purse. It was star-shaped, with eight variously-colored edges, and the entire thing was the width of his thumb. She opened Ash's palm and gently closed it again around the badge. She smiled. "You deserve this, Ash."

"Aww… Yes!!" cheered Ash. "That's three good things to happen to me in one day!"

"Then I'll make that four," said Officer Jenny as she came over. "You and your Kirlia have been a big help in this firefight. Without your support someone in our team might have been seriously injured, or worse. But not only are all five of us still alive and well, we've managed to take down one Team Rocket member, which means the pokemon he was carrying are freed also."

One of the pokemon released from Team Rocket's control, the Cloyster, rolled over to Ash's side. It opened the hard layers of shell, revealing the black spherical core. It smiled. "Thank you, Ash. It would be an honor to accompany you on your journey. I will serve you faithfully in our travels."

Ash was flabbergasted. This was almost too good to be true! Now he had three pokemon, all of which were now very tough! There was hope for Kay yet!

"Ash," said Officer Jenny, no trace of tears left on her cheeks, "As a condition for taking Cloyster, you must promise me never again to go playing in a casino. You're a psychic, Ash. Remember that it marks you as an outcast."

Ash sweatdropped. "Oh, all right, no more gambling for me." He smiled. "There, good enough?"


	10. Ash's First Tournament

**The Quest 10: Ash's First Tournament**

The first place Ash went after the close encounter at Celadon Gym was the poke-Center. His pokemon needed it. He had to tell his parents what had transpired. And he wanted to find out what levels his pokemon were on.

"Your pokemon are now all rested and restored," said Nurse Joy happily shortly after he hung up from his phone call. Delia was frightfully concerned for his safety, having gotten over her apparent fright several weeks back.

"Why thank you, Nurse Joy," replied Ash.

"I see you've all of a sudden added two mature pokemon to the team! Your Charmeleon is level 38 already; you should consider metamorphosing it now. Your Cloyster is level 30. And I don't know _what_ you've been through, but your Kirlia has gone up to level 39 in a whopping short period of time!"

Ash smiled back and thanked, her, then decided to take a much-needed break right on the guest sofa. He was amazed at the prospect.

His Charmeleon, mature enough to consider becoming a Charizard. Regardless of how badly it had been mistreated while under Team Rocket's control, they had evidently taught it a new ability – smokescreen – and a combination move – smokescreen with heat. They had also done him a great favor in teaching his Charmeleon so much.

His Kirlia, gone up four levels in one day, and at such a high level. That was in addition to the five levels gained by metamorphosing. It also seemed to have learned Confusion.

His Cloyster, a gift falling out of nowhere, allaying his fear that he would have to start from scratch in training a water-type pokemon. He knew that it knew Payback; it and the pokemon's immense defense and endurance compensated for not yet having a water nor ice based ability.

Yet before going to sleep, he set out his psychic feelers to pick up on the thoughts of other people in the poke-Center. _I wonder if anyone here has a poke-rod they're willing to sell? / What is the chance that stock in Silph Corporation will go up soon? / Will this week's tournament against Sabrina be any different from last year's?_

_Wait… This week!? _Suddenly Ash felt it impossible to go to sleep. He focused his attention on what the person was thinking to himself about, and quickly learned much about what could be expected. Here's the run-down: Sabrina, teenage psychic prodigy, Alakazam trainer, and Saffron Gym Leader, could be replaced by a champion by the end of this week when the two come head-to-head in a pokemon match. The champion is the one who can defeat all the other 63 trainers who enter the competition.

Well, in that case, thought Ash, why not participate? It would do his ego a lot of good if he won, plus he would obtain the incredibly rare Soul Badge, which may just be enough to scare most people into avoiding his bad side. It would also be an incredible opportunity to train his pokemon some more in mock battles. And if it was indeed a big enough event to attract people from Celadon City, it may be enough to attract people from Cerulean City. By this time, he surprised, the same trainers who were Novices and left Pallet the same time Ash did would have arrived in Cerulean City. Even if they got to Vermillion or Lavender, that was the same distance to Saffron as from either Cerulean or Celadon, so they'd end up going there too. This was the optimal time for a grand reunion of this year's Pallet Novices!

"All right everybody, let's go," said Ash eagerly, jumping off the couch all of a sudden. Charmeleon looked at him curiously, while Cloyster's body peeped out of its often closed shell. Kirlia, who sensed Ash's unrestrained excitement, danced and spun around like a top. Leading the way, Ash paced briskly east of town.

Soon they had arrived at the edge of the city; before them lay woods that they would have to pass in order to reach Saffron. "All right," said Ash, "It's time to see just how good this vaunted Sabrina is! Either way works for me, if I win I get a badge, if I lose I get a mentor." The foursome began to trek through the woods, Ash explaining to his Charmeleon and Cloyster just what his tactics were for fighting and telling them all about what it was like to be psychic. During that time Kirlia rested beside Ash's neck, though now considerably taller heavier at forty pounds, its legs dangling over his shoulder blade.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Two days later, they were still trekking through the woods, though finally a signpost came into view through the dense mist up ahead. It was night already. During that time Ash hadn't used his remaining poke-ball, and was of the belief that he wouldn't have much need for it anyway. Trained and mature pokemon were so much better than lots of pokemon, and his pokemon were all improving quickly. That did come with a price, however; all of his pokemon were tired out from engaging in friendly matches with each other, and he had to tell them to stop because he had run out of potions and burn cures.

"Well, we must be near it, I bet that sign says the way forward leads immediately to Saffron City," said Ash to his team. Everyone was eager, and soon they had arrived close enough to see those woods. "Forward: South to Vermillion City... Huh? Since when were we going to Vermillion City!?" exclaimed Ash in surprise. It was a rude shock to him. He _knew _that during the past two days he had been steadily progressing eastward toward Saffron, which lay due east… Now for some reason he was going south?! If it was south to Vermillion City, then they ought to be going back the way they came if they wanted to get to Saffron. But that wasn't right either, it seemed, for that was the path that would take him back to Celadon!

"Darn it, once I get to Saffron City I'm definitely going to challenge the gym leader to a match. This is outrageous, and I probably won't even be able to find the _city _again, if I ever do," muttered Ash angrily.

The mist continued to encroach as the team began to turn backward. "Hey, you're going off track again, Charmeleon," said Ash.

"No, this is the way, you're going to veer west back to Celadon if you're not careful," replied Charmeleon.

"You're both wrong, we need to take a right here!" exclaimed Cloyster.

"Uhh…" Kirlia instinctively started edging away from the arguments.

"No, I'm right, it's this way," said Charmeleon.

"No, you're going to take us definitely to the wrong place—"

"Shut up everyone, this is not helping!" screamed Ash in anger. He took out all three active pokeballs and began recalling his pokemon. "I'm the trainer around here, I'll decide where we go, now enough of this!"

Kirlia teleported out of the way just in time to avoid the red light from Ash's pokeball. ((Ash, calm down, it's not a good idea to wander about at night all alone without a pokemon guardian beside you,)) it said calmly to him.

((I don't need that right now, I can handle this by myself, the reason we got lost here is because you told me to go the way we went, and look where we are now!)) He tried to recall Kirlia again, but again it didn't work.

((No, is there something wrong with your head right now? You were the one who decided to go the way we w—)) the psychic communication was abruptly cut short as Ash caught Kirlia on his third try.

"There! Enough is enough!" Unfortunately, this fiasco had caused Ash to forget which way he was going. Unsure, he stumbled ahead, getting further lost in the swirling mist…

Somehow or other he ended up on a tree branch high above the ground, because suddenly he nearly lost his footing and fell off the tree. _How the heck did this happen? What is going on!?_ He wondered in surprise.

The next moment he discovered that a net had been cast about him, and that that was why – or wasn't it? – he was suddenly way higher than he should have been. Alarmed, he reached for Kirlia's pokeball – then realized with shock and dismay that somehow his wrists were bound behind his back by handcuffs. He tried to struggle, then realized that it was fruitless. _Uh-oh, now what do I do!? Why was I so stupid? I should have listened to Kirlia… Kirlia, now would be a good time for you to be out of your pokeball.. Ugh… but you can't get free by yourself, and I can't free you… Geez, what is with this place!?_

Suddenly the mists in front of him parted, revealing a girl likewise dangling in midair, caught in a tight net and hands helplessly bound. It was Lily! _Oh I get it, this is a dream,_ thought Ash. _Well in that case, might as well go to sleep…_

The problem with this dream was that he actually fell asleep in it, then in the morning woke from the sleep within the dream, but was still in the dream itself. Ash yawned, then realized with horror that he was still captive. The mists parted once again to reveal Lily, her eyes focused on him, her lips moving and obviously speaking to him. However, despite their seemingly being right next to each other, Ash couldn't near her voice at all.

"Oh great, so now all we have to do is just wait for Gary to come along and rescue us again," muttered Ash ruefully. "Another damsel in distress situation, another botched rescue attempt…"

_Man… This is one bad fix I'm in. This place reeks of psychic static… Hmm, maybe I can figure out just what's going on… _Ash closed his eyes, and began meditating, allowing his psychic power to flow out and try to detect the aura that pervaded everything. He realized with a start that this entire place was reeking of psychic mind-power, though there was no source of it from anywhere in the vicinity. Whoever was capable of achieving this obviously knew what he or she was doing and was very talented… The hallucinations, the teleportation, and the telekinesis were of unparalleled capability.

Unparalleled psychic power… _Sabrina… Oh, was this something I said? Why would you be minding my business anyway? Hmm… I said I'd challenge you for your position once we got to Saffron, is that it? In that case…_ "Okay Sabrina, I promise not to challenge you for your badge, at least for the time being. Is that good enough?" he shouted out loud, knowing that very likely only Sabrina could hear him.

Suddenly the mists faded away, and he dropped, free, toward the ground without feeling any acceleration. It was morning, the sun was shining brightly through the trees... and there was no mist at all. So he was correct, this was all a conjuration! Though… Suspended high above him was a net with a girl ensnared inside it…

"Go, Cloyster!" he shouted, tossing the pokeball now that he had use of his hands again.

The pokemon materialized and said, "We told you not to put us all away, but somehow that didn't get into that dense head of yours. Need some skull-bashing to fix it?"

"Just… break the rope holding up that net," Ash pointed upward. The Cloyster pointed one of its smaller spikes at the rope, and startled Ash by shooting off that spike like it were a missile. It smashed into the rope straight-on, sending the bundle free-falling.

_Uh oh, should have thought about that first,_ thought Ash, realizing that if Lily were to simply fall to the ground like this she could very well snap her neck. _Oh well, time for some telekinesis practice…_

Ash focused his mind on the target and channeled his telekinetic power into stalling the fall of the net at the last moment… Suddenly there was a jarring sense in his mind, and a powerful THUD!.

And then he knew no more.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Wake up!" said Lily. Her face was hovering right over Ash's. Ash, in turn, was sprawled on the ground, evidently knocked out hard. He felt very groggy at the moment.

"Grr.. What just happened?" he asked dully.

"Oh, thank goodness you're all right!" said Lily. "Here, let me help you get up – there! Here's some food your Kirlia managed to miraculously produce earlier."

"Thanks Lily… Whoa! Have I really been out for the entire morning and afternoon?" Ash asked in surprise when he saw the sun starting to set in the west. "Hey… how did you get free?"

"Cloyster's spikes are also sharp as a knife. After a few grindings the net was broken. And I must really commend your Kirlia. It used its psychic power to turn the lock's internal tumbler mechanism, and that's what freed me. Of course, thanks to you too, or else I'll still be stuck up there, lost in a mirage…

"I learned from Kirlia all about your realizing that you were a psychic. Though, you were rather silly trying to slow my fall; you should have had your Kirlia use its telekinetic powers. After all, you're not the pokemon!" she smiled.

"Well, I'm just glad you're fine," said Ash, returning the smile. He was already beginning to feel the desire to keep Lily by his side on his travels… He hadn't realized until now how sorely he needed a companion to keep company…

"Me too. Though I kind of wished Gary had been the one to rescue me, not you…" Ash sweatdropped. "He's only gotten more impressive since Viridian Forest. Well, Ash, so long now. I'll be headed to Saffron City for the tournament. I'm sure Gary will be there to beat everyone else who's competing. Go Ponyta!" A fire-branded horse pokemon appeared. And with that, Lily rode off, giving Ash the impression that she wasn't a bit grateful for having been rescued. He continued to stare at her until she was out of sight.

_I wonder why that is…_ he thought to himself. _There's seriously something wrong with this damsel in distress approach to making romance…_

"All right everyone, we've tallied around for too long now. It's been four days already, and that means the tournament starts tomorrow! If we don't go soon we won't get a chance to participate!" And with that, the team rushed off in the direction Lily had taken. Immediately they came across a heart-warming sign: "Forward: North to Saffron City".

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

It was a day later. Ash had already registered in the tournament (and only barely making it), something that cost a paltry 500.00. He had discussed tactics with all three of his pokemon, and had done some psychic prepping with them. The books he had read back in Viridian were starting to be useful at last, as he managed to somehow get each of his two non-psychic pokemon to get used to hearing from him telepathically. He had rented a room at the inn for a three-day stay, after which the tournament would be over.

"All right, Charmeleon, Kirlia, and Cloyster, this is it! Our first tournament! Remember what you've learned, both on your own, with me, and with each other! Don't forget the tactics we discussed! Now let's go!" cheered Ash, and the pokemon cheered in reply. Ash returned all but Kirlia to his pokeballs and set off with the girl-like pokemon on his shoulder for the Poke-Center and the Gym he knew would be adjacent to it.

As Ash handed over his pokeballs to Nurse Joy, a familiar face startled him. "Hey Gary, what a pleasant surprise!" exclaimed Ash. "I hear you're going to participate in the tournament?"

"Yeah, but how did you know? Hmm… I bet it's those cheerleader girls I bring with me all the time, did one of them tell you?"

"Absolutely not, I'll give you a clue: the person is the opposite of one of those cheerleader girls."

"Hmm… Not hard, that must be Lily. So, are you joining as well?"

"Yep, and since I value quality over quantity, and each of my three pokemon are over lvl. 30, you're going to lose!" Ash bloated.

"Hey, not so fast there buddy. You might think what you think, but don't forget that Eevee battle we had back at Pallet. If your pokemon are all level 30 to 40, well, I have plenty of level 10 to 20's who are going to beat them hands-down!" challenged Gary with a warm smile.

"Humph! That may be, but you won't be fighting on home territory this time." The two looked at each other intently, seeing if either side was going to chicken out. Neither did. "Well then, we'll just have to find out for ourselves. See you on the arena!"

"Your pokemon are fighting fit!" said Nurse Joy as she handed the pokemon back.

"Thanks!" replied Ash as he released his pokemon from their pokeballs.

Gary looked at the Charmeleon for a second, then turned to Ash with a big grin. "Seems like you've found your friend already, Ash! In which case – time for a party?"

Ash smiled happily. "You bet!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"But my Butterfree is going to put your Charmeleon to sleep in a hurry," retorted Lily.

"Yeah… if it lasts that long, which it _won't_," replied Ash. They were already seated near the front of the Saffron City Gym, ready to take to the field when their turn came. And, of course, now that Lily was going to be a competitor as well, they took pride in their pokemon's abilities as they argued the merits of who was more likely to win.

"Well, you're up first, so we'll just see how long you last," said Lily in mock nastiness.

The morning was very bright, with clear skies. For this particular occasion, the Saffron City regular gym had sunk underground, and a plain field – what had been the roof – was all that was visible. The announcer spoke up loud and clear: "And now, let's give it up for our first two contestants, the red trainer, Dawn of Twinleaf Town, and the green trainer, Ash of Pallet Town!" The audience roared in applause and anticipation.

"See you later," retorted Ash as he stood up to enter the field, pokeballs in hand and Kirlia on his shoulder.

The announcer continued saying what Ash already knew: "Each trainer will be able to use up to two pokemon in this first round. This will be a one-on-one match."

Ash turned excitedly to his Kirlia. "All right, Kirlia, get out there and show 'em what you got!" Kirlia obediently teleported into the arena.

Dawn took a short look, and sent out her first pokemon. It immediately assumed a fighting posture, and had two large red balls for fists. In between but on the sidelines, the referee held out two flags, one red, one green.

"The red trainer has chosen to use the psychic pokemon Kirlia, and the green trainer has chosen to use the fighting pokemon Hitmonchan! As many of you know, this puts the green trainer at a severe type disadvantage. May it make up for that weakness in either superior maturity or superior tactics!"

"All right Hitmonchan, mega punch!" In a flash the pokemon was upon Ash's Kirlia.

If it weren't for Ash's ability to communicate telepathically, his command would not have gotten through in time. ((Resist it with your telekinesis!)) Kirlia's two flat red horns flared up, indicating that it was powering up its psychic capabilities. With something like telekinesis, there was no way a fighting pokemon stood much of a chance. A split second later, however, the mega punch landed, sending the lithe pokemon flying past Ash. And since Ash was standing behind the rear line of the arena, that was _too _far back. It slammed into the raised platform Ash was standing on, and collapsed, knocked out.

The referee raised the green flag. "Ash's Kirlia is unable to continue the match! With one pokemon down, what will Ash's second and final pokemon be?"

Ash immediately sent in a psychic signal to see if Kirlia's condition was critical. As it was not, Ash recalled it back into its pokeball. "All right, Charmeleon, go!" The pokeball took on a backspin before hitting the ground and releasing the fiery reptile. "Use your—"

Dawn's next move caught Ash _totally _by surprise.


	11. Saffron Tournament Part 1

**A/N: **When I first wrote this series I had Abra as the pokemon Gary gifted to Ash; I have since changed it to Ralts. My interpretation of certain moves may also be different from the canon. Thanks to **MelissaLianne, -w- easy enough, Kyoumi, animedynasty**, and **AceTrainerTe** for your reviews so far. I hope they keep coming! The idea for P.J. is from **Suicune lord**.

**The Quest 11: Saffron Tournament Part 1**

Dawn had already recalled her Hitmonchan. She threw out an ultra-ball, which split open far above Charmeleon's head. The light emanating from it took on a massive shape. I mean really massive – larger even than an entire room. Before Ash could finish his sentence, the Snorlax materialized midair, bringing all ten-some tons of blubber crashing onto Charmeleon, snapping multiple bones in the process. The colossal pokemon then anticlimactically kept on dozing. Ash gasped. His Charmeleon was pretty much dead! If he didn't get it to the poke-Center in under a minute, his guardian pokemon would be no more! Images of Officer Jenny's Steelix struck back into his mind. The battle and winning wasn't as important as the life of a pokemon…

"Return!" he shouted, and aimed below the Snorlax. However, the red recalling beam struck the Snorlax and ended there, unable to go past anything solid. He couldn't recall his pokemon, and if he couldn't do that immediately, he would soon lose a traveling partner…

Frantic, Ash ran out onto the field. "I forfeit! Now get this Snorlax off my pokemon!" he shouted, waving his hands in the air in surrender.

The referee raised the green flag the second time that match. "Ash forfeits, and this match goes to the green trainer, Dawn!"

Dawn coolly recalled her Snorlax. Ash recalled his Charmeleon, and dashed off as fast as he could to the poke-Center amidst excited shouts by the crowd. Ash ignored it all, knowing after all that none of them were cheering for him, the expected-to-lose red trainer. Although Lily had already prepared a barrage of possible phrases and sentences she could use to humiliate Ash after the match in the name of poking fun, she didn't find this to be an occasion to use any of them; instead, she looked on, startled and terribly frightened of her own matches.

Since the poke-Center was right next door and already prepared to handle the emergency medical conditions that the competition was bound to cause, it took mere seconds to run over there and hand over the pokeball holding the broken remains of his Charmeleon to Nurse Joy. She opened a large machine and put the pokeball inside. A string of lights on a dashboard began to light up as the treatment process was underway.

Ash felt someone touch his shoulder and turned around to see who. It was Gary, with a downtrodden facial expression. He didn't say anything regarding the match that had just ended, for he knew that it must have dealt Ash a terrible blow and he knew something about tact. Neither said anything for a long while. He just stayed there, lightly squeezing Ash's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. And Ash appreciated his friend for that.

The last of the lights had lit up green about a minute into the regenerative process. Ash sighed with relief as Nurse Joy handed over his two battered and recuperated pokemon back to him in their pokeballs. He didn't have to summon his pokemon out to know that they were definitely back to normal. The modern medicine, created by hundreds of pokemon's secretions, didn't know failure.

_Why did we lose!? How could a psychic pokemon lose to one it should have a type advantage against? Isn't telekinesis supposed to be able to stop a fighting pokemon cold? And Charmeleon – I'm going to have to prepare it for similar situations in the future from other falling large pokemon. That 'squash' tactic is really unfair and unexpected, but it worked, and if I'm to rescue Kay I'll have to master these tactics and prepare counters against them._

Silently, Ash and Gary returned to the Saffron City Gym. Their one-minute excursion meant that they had already missed a match. Gary returned to his seat, surrounded by six charmingly beautiful girls, while Ash took a seat beside Lily. Opposite sat a black-haired teenager much older than him who watched the third match solemnly, without any hint of the jovial atmosphere.

"Daniel's Electabuzz shockingly wins the day! And the match goes to the green trainer, Daniel! And now for our next match,--"

Ash had decided to find out who the stranger sitting next to him was, and opened a psychic channel. In her mind he ran up against the proverbial hundred-meter castle wall. _This person must be a good psychic,_ thought Ash as he continued to probe around her conscious for weaknesses in the mental defense. There were none. Desperate, he bashed against that barrier – and cried out, as if a knife had suddenly jabbed into his soft brain flesh. He tottered, for a moment almost falling off his seat as he groped his head in a terrible pain.

He had to fight this! Otherwise, there seemed to be little respite from such agony. He attempted to will his mind to become null, to ignore the side effects of this unsuccessful attempt. But then something pro-active entered his mind, something he had never experienced before. Without even being able to resist, Ash's mind was, figuratively, sucked into a spiral and locked down. He kept repeating his last movements unconsciously, as his mind was unable to even comprehend the basics of logic and sentience. He was as smart as a vegetable, and he didn't even know it, nor anything else for that matter. It seemed as if he had just gone terribly insane or retarded.

This problem only let up half an hour later. In that time, though he wasn't paralyzed or asleep, he hadn't been able to do a thing. He turned around quizzically as his reality suddenly shifted into _the _reality of crowds cheering as another match was about to begin. It was already the third to last match, and from the residual smile on her face, Ash guessed that Lily had already won her first round. These thoughts were broken by a cheerleading troupe that Ash remembered quite clearly.

"Gary, Gary, he's our man,

"if he can't do it no one can!"

Indeed, up next was the green trainer Gary. He looked diminutive out there on the arena. "And now, let's give it up for the red trainer, P.J. of New Bark Town!" The competitor was a man slightly over twenty years of age. "…What pokemon will they use to begin the match?" blared the announcer.

Both competitors were standing on their own raised platform, resembling a small tower encircled by hand-bars. They waved to the crowd, before looking at each other intently. Gary smiled before shouting, "After this match my pokemon will be mature enough to metamorphose!"

"All right, let's begin!" The referee lowered both flags simultaneously, and two pokeballs whirled out from opposite sides of the arena.

On Gary's side of the field, an Abra. On the red trainer's side, an Ursaring. The large, brown-furred bear pokemon stood much taller than the little yellow-skinned rodent, but Ash knew better than to think it a decided match already. Gary using Abra meant that he knew what was going on… even if the only ability it could possibly use before metamorphosing (or getting transformed) was Teleport.

"All right Ursaring, this should be easy after all the moves I taught you," encouraged P.J., shouting with fist upraised from the platform-tower he was standing on. "Fury swipes!" Gary muttered something so soft for anyone else to hear, but evidently his Abra did. The next moment it had teleported, reappearing with a velocity as it slammed into P.J.'s face and knocking him backward over the handrail. At the last moment the contestant grabbed hold of the handrail from the outside, dangling. His feet found no solid ground to hold onto, and he couldn't pull himself up, but at least he wasn't immediately disqualified.

And because trainers themselves were part of the match, Gary's move with the Abra would have been legitimate.

_Whoa, now that's what I call really unconventional moves,_ thought Ash.

P.J. was visibly straining. "Hurry up, Ursaring! Get that Abra!" The bear pokemon chased the Abra halfway around the arena as everyone in the crowd burst into laughter at the pathetic Ursaring. Several minutes passed, but the determined opponent was still grabbing on.

Finally Gary called out, "All right, enough playing. Finish it off, Abra!" The Abra teleported right on top of P.J., making him slip even more. Ash put out his psychic feelers and experienced just how panicked and exhausted the man had become. The Abra then proceeded to tickle the man's slipping hand with its tail…

P.J. fell onto the ground, dead tired. The referee raised the green flag. "The red trainer has exited the arena and is disqualified. And this match goes to Gary of Pallet Town!" The crowd roared in approval and happiness, and Ash joined in at seeing his friend (albeit rival) winning this round. Gary's personal cheerleading squad burst out into a chant.

"All right Abra, you think you're ready?" asked Gary. Suddenly his pokemon glowed totally white, before re-shaping into Kadabra. A win _and _an immediate metamorphosis. At that, the crowd went wild.

After that another match began, and only then did Ash recall that there was a powerful psychic sitting next to him. He turned around and saw her staring at him with a cold expression. "You're the one who did that unspeakable horror to me, didn't you?" he accused her. "You're a psychic. Who are you anyway?"

"You mean you don't recognize the gym leader of these parts?" quizzed Lily.

"Sabrina!? Well, pleased to meet you," said Ash humbly, though he doubted that those words were true. Who knew what she already knew about him, just by psychically sensing his mind all that time without him even noticing?

"Prepare for trouble!" said a high-pitched voice. _Uh-oh,_ thought Ash.

"And make it double!"

"To—" it turned out that the two were both what appeared to be eight-year-olds, and their mother was hurriedly rushing up to drag them away screaming.

"Ha-ha!" laughed Ash a bit nervously as the mother began trading them over their bad behavior and about how that was one joke that shouldn't ever be told.

"What happened to you earlier anyway?" asked Lily. "You looked like you were zoned out the entire time."

"I… eh," said Ash as he sweatdropped. "Don't worry, I'm okay. How did your match go? Never mind, I'll find out for myself…"

"Huh?" Lily's eyes narrowed. "It's kind of obvious you're psychic and using it when you say something like that, you know," she announced her disapproval.

"Well then, err…" Ash decided not to mention it anymore, and instead decided to watch the next match. Before he knew it all 32 matches had finished (it had only been slightly over an hour).

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"All right everyone, welcome back to the second day of the tournament deciding this year's individual who may challenge Sabrina for the coveted role of Saffron City's Psychic Gym Leader!" the announcer blared through the loudspeaker. Most people had already taken a seat, and this time Ash, Lily, and Gary were sitting together, the cheering squad not too far away from the latter, whom they doted on.

The massive hole in the ground that had snared Snorlax the previous day had been entirely filled in, though the arena still looked very _used. _The skies had become overly cloudy, and seemed likely to rain at any moment.

Ash, despite having lost yesterday, knew that it was important for him to see all the tricks that trainers had so that he could copy off of them and develop counter-tactics with his own team of pokemon. This stuff _could_ come in handy one day when he fought Team Rocket. So here he was, eyes wide open and alert.

"In the second round each trainer may use a total of three pokemon, one at a time. And now, let us welcome Dawn of Twinleaf Town, the green trainer who in the first match beat Ash of Pallet Town—" Ash winced "—and Violet of Lavender Town, the red trainer who in the first round beat…" The two trainers took to their platforms and waved to the enthusiastic crowd. "And now, let us begin the match!" The referee lowered both flags, and two pokeballs were tossed into the air.

On Dawn's side, her Hitmonchan again. On Violet's side, a Dodrio. The three-headed bird pokemon immediately soared to the air. "Well, it looks like the red trainer has got the advantage in this one, for as we know flying pokemon can easily avoid fighting types—" Before he had finished, Dodrio had shown its swift agility, flying hither and thither, constantly pecking at the fighting pokemon while easily avoiding counterattacks. Dawn, knowing that this was a lost battle, attempted to switch to a different pokemon, but the rapid Dodrio kept blocking the recalling beam of the pokeball. "Oh no! It looks like Hitmonchan is down from all the tri attacks! And now it's taking a consecutive beating! Will Dawn withdraw from the match?" Finally, however, the red beam came through an opening, and the battered Hitmonchan vanished, though not in critical condition.

"Time for a comeback," said Dawn with a smile. "Go, pokeball!"

"Get out of there!" screamed Violet. The Dodrio flew out of the way just as a slumbering Snorlax slammed into the ground where it had been perching a moment before. "Whew! That was close! Now get'em with your drill peck!" Dawn looked on with a smile, knowing that even a drill peck would do little to harm a pokemon with as much blubber as a Snorlax. But instead, the moment before the Dodrio would have struck, it vanished inside Violet's pokeball. No pokemon was released in its place.

"Huh?" exclaimed Lily in confusion; Ash was of the same opinion. Right now it seemed everyone was in a sleeping mood: the two trainers stared at each other as if sure that the other side would lose; Dawn had a sleeping Snorlax out; and Violet didn't have any pokemon out at all. Both had a pokeball out and ready to use, but neither did anything; they just waited. And waited.

And waited.

"Hey, are you going to do anything!?" people from the audience began to cry out in anger. Five minutes passed. Ten…

"It seems as if these two trainers are going to spend the entire day out-waiting each other," said the announcer, "so I'll just go to sleep…"

Ash looked from one trainer to the other, wondering what was going on, until he realized that Violet seemed to be making furtive glances at the ground. _So she's up to something! _Immediately he began opening up a psychic channel to probe what was going on in her mind, and realized that—

The next moment everyone was jolted wide awake by a sudden collapse of the ground right underneath the Snorlax. It had fallen in entirely, and tons of debris had then covered it up, smothering it in its deep sleep and preventing a shocked Dawn from recalling it inside her ultra-ball.

"Oh my goodness someone help dig out my Snorlax!" screamed Dawn in dismay as she forgot all about the match and ran out to look for a spade.

"Do you forfeit?" asked Violet with a smile.

"Yes, yes, now get that pokemon out of there!"

"All right then, Baltoy, get the Snorlax out of the rock tomb!" commanded Violet as Dawn sagged to her knees in defeat. _So that was the pokemon that Violet had been secretly using that whole time! _Within moments the Baltoy and moved aside the mounds of rock and dirt that were covering up the Snorlax, which had promptly fainted.

"Thank you," whispered Dawn before rushing to get the Snorlax (in the pokeball) to the poke-Center.

The referee raised the red flag. "And the match goes to the red trainer in a startling turn-around that proves that the ten minutes of wait wasn't for nothing!" announced the commentator.

"Wow, that was just startlingly swift after a long period of dullness," said Ash, which Gary agreed to wholeheartedly. "So many tactics… No wonder it's near impossible to get to a point at which you're unbeatable."

Several more matches had passed, all of which ended when a pokemon was so mortally wounded that its trainer had to forfeit to save its life. Not that the competition was risky business – it wasn't as if there were no medications available immediately. Before Ash knew it, the announcer was heralding "Misty from Cerulean City". That startled him. _The _Misty? Gym leader and water-dancer extraordinaire?

"Go, Starmie!" shouted Misty in a high-pitched voice as she threw out her pokeball.

"What's Misty doing in this competition? Isn't this going to embarrass her?" asked Ash.

Gary replied, "Not really. After all, Misty didn't become a gym leader because she knows pokemon tactics. That's why she's the red trainer in this match. No, Misty's gym is all about agility and perfection of movement – you'll find out in due time when you challenge her for the Cascade Badge."

Within a minute Starmie had used some strange psychic attack to knock out the opponent's Ferret, followed by a Quilava the next minute. Before three minutes were up the trainer's final pokemon had been defeated as well. "And this round goes to the red trainer!" And the crowd goes wild.

"Well, she obviously knows how to handle her Starmie," Ash said at last.

"We'll find out, won't we?" replied Gary with a smile. Soon enough, ere ten minutes were over, the announcer had called Lily. "And now, let us welcome Lily of Pallet Town…"

Ash cheered harder than most people in the audience did. "Go win this one!" he shouted. Lily smiled to him, then walked up to the raised platform.

"And let us not forget Daniel from Ecruteak City!..." The two trainers looked at each other intently as if trying to stare the other down. "Let us begin!" Both sides threw out their pokeballs, materializing into Lily's flitting Butterfree and Daniel's Manectric. The latter, a blue-skinned dog-like pokemon with a lightning-yellow mane, didn't hesitate for the trainer's orders before discharging a brutal lightning bolt attack in the blink of an eye. In an instant, before the announcer could get a word out of his mouth, the Butterfree had crumpled onto the ground, in serious injury.

"Oh no!" Lily abandoned the platform – and hence any hope of staying in the tournament – and rushed over to the poke-Center with the Butterfree in her pokeball.

_Oh my goodness, that was lightning fast,_ thought Ash (pun intended). _How can psychic pokemon ever compete against a type that operates with swift speed? _

"I sure hope my Butterfree is okay," muttered Gary a bit despondently. Ash knew what he was thinking: _How could Lily treat the pokemon I gifted to her in such a manner? Of course, I couldn't blame her for not knowing that Daniel was about to use an electric type, but as the only pokemon Daniel had used in the first round were electric…_

Ash wanted to rush out of his seat and go comfort Lily, whom he knew must be incredibly forlorn or worried, if not both. But he knew that staying behind would be far more useful in the long run, for it would offer him the opportunity to see other tactics that trainers could use. And he already had seen that many matches were decided with good tactics by trainers who knew what they were doing and played to their strengths… Now that both he and Lily were out of the tournament, all that was left was to see how long Gary could last…

A few minutes later, it was his turn. "And now, an ovation for the green trainer, Gary of Pallet Town, who had beat P.J. of New Bark Town previously…"

"All right Gary, go and beat 'em," cheered on Ash as Gary stood up. "I'll be rooting for you! You can't let our town down!"

"Gary, Gary, he's our man,

"if he can't do it no one can!"

"Thank you, thank you," Gary said to the crowd before bowing once. "Today I'll be using another young pokemon. If I win, it'll probably evolve after the match." Remembering what had happened last time, the crowd went wild.

"And now, let's give it up for the red trainer, Kite of Goldenrod City! He has traveled a long distance just for this tournament, and yesterday he had beaten…" The crowd went wild for the young man too. "Let the match begin!"

"Go Eevee!" shouted Gary, throwing the pokeball as far as he could. Simultaneously the crowd gasped as a male Golem materialized on the other side of the field. Eevee cringed in fear as the gigantic boulder of a pokemon, some two meters tall, loomed several times taller than it was. Ash felt terror creeping up his spine just by imagining that he was in such a position. This was worse than a one-hit knock-out; this was a one-hit turn-into-fine-dust match.

"My, but isn't wee little Eevee out of its league in this one! But I wonder why the green trainer isn't recalling his pokemon? Does he really have winning plan for such a lopsided battle?" rhetorically asked the commentator.

Kite bade to his Golem, "All right, Rolling Tackle, now!"

The commentator continued, "That Golem is an unstoppable juggernaut once it uses Rolling Tackle! Gary would be advised to recall his pokemon—"

The Golem obediently used its massive, impervious arms to begin rolling in Eevee's direction, accelerating very quickly and preparing for a collision.

"All right Eevee, do your thing," said Gary, not leaving a hint as to what the 'thing' was.


	12. Saffron Tournament Part 2

**The Quest 12: Saffron Tournament Part 2**

Immediately the Eevee had moved out of the way. The Golem struck with immense power right past the point that Eevee had just been standing on, and so returned to strike again at the Eevee. Gary and Kite both watched on, sure that they would win and not doing anything to bring that about. Eevee narrowly missed being squashed into nothingness by Golem on two occasions, but it had steadily retreated to Kite's side of the field, with the Golem still in pursuit. Eevee then launched a sand-attack straight at the Golem's eyes. Despite being rock-type, the pokemon's eyes were still blinded, forcing the Golem to sense its way through vibrations in the ground…

The commentator continued, "The Eevee is getting the Golem to blindly chase after it all across the arena! Just how long can this continue before the Eevee is tired out or struck down at last from a false step?"

Eevee smiled in success at seeing the Golem's eyes closed. It jumped up and down, drawing the Golem's attentions to the source of its vibrations. He immediately turned and bore down on the Eevee. The Eevee swiftly dodged out of the way, then proceeded to taunt to Golem in a language that everyone could understand, greatly angering the Golem and flustering Kite. It said a string of expletives which would be simply _wrong_ to repeat. The Golem was mad. He immediately began another roll straight at the Eevee, which had now positioned itself right in front of Kite's podium.

"No, Golem, not this way!" shouted Kite futilely as he realized what has happening. The Golem had been tricked! Eevee dodged out of the way just in time, but the infuriated Golem, having attained an incredible speed and unable to see where it was going, continued on its way. The crowd gasped and cried out in shock as the golem slammed full-power into the platform, creating a massive dent in it and causing the girders holding it in place to buckle. Within three seconds the platform had collapsed, and a terrified Kite fell in along with the crumbling structure.

The referee held up the green flag. "The red trainer is unable to continue the match. Victory goes to the green trainer, Gary!"

At the same time a nurse had run out from the sidelines onto the field with a large, bulging bag of medicinal powder in hand. She poured it all over Kite and emptied the entire bag. Judging from how much powder had been used, Ash figured that Kite must have had his body split in half several times over… Just the thought of it was bloody and not fit for the light-hearted, so he immediately put it out of his thoughts.

"Wow, how can this be possible? I can scarcely believe it!" blared the loudspeaker. "The green trainer certainly knows some impressive match-winning tactics!" The Eevee wagged its tail in delight at seeing even the enraged Golem put to rest, not to mention subduing his trainer as well.

_This is a wonderful tactic, using your opponent's strengths against him,_ noted Ash as he continued to scribble words in his notebook. He was taking to this tournament like taking a class in pokemon tactics…

"Well, Eevee, are you ready to take your adult form?" asked Gary in an incredibly serious tone, pulling out a container from his pocket. Inside were six different metamorphosing stones, about two inches at their longest, necessary for instigating certain _mature _pokemon to evolve. Like the sun stone, moon stone, leaf stone, fire stone, water stone, and thunder stone.

"Yes, I am," said Eevee. Everyone watched with their breaths held as the Eevee held out its paw, clutching a stone. It brought the stone to its chest, and soon began to glow a brilliant white as it enlarged and changed its shape into…

"Hey, no peeking," Gary said abruptly, and sucked the metamorphosing Eevee into its pokeball to complete the metamorphosis out of sight. The crowd went wild with its unsatisfied expectations as Gary walked down from the platform once again a winner.

"Great job Gary, you're the best!" cheered Ash as they gave each other a high-five.

"Four matches to go," he replied.

"In the third round, each trainer is allowed to use a maximum of four separate pokemon in total. And now, give up some applause for two-time winner and green trainer, Violet of Lavender Town!" announced the commentator. The crowd went wild as the lass took to the platform. "And let us also cheer for the red trainer, Daisy of Pewter City!" The crowd went wild again as the lass took to the platform. "Let the match begin!"

The first two pokemon turned out to be a Dodrio and a Pichu. "Go get'em!" shouted Sakura. Immediately the mouse-like electric pokemon powered up its electric sacs and let loose with several charged bolts. But instead of hitting a Dodrio, the charged bolts hit Violet's replacement pokemon, a female Magneton. The pokemon resembling a trio of magnets quickly absorbed all the electric power out of the Pichu, draining away even more than the Pichu had intended in its attack, then used its electromagnetic potential to suck Pichu. It was stuck on the surface, and flailing helplessly, when Sakura recalled it back into the pokeball.

"And Daisy's next pokemon is Machoke!" The heavily muscled pokemon materialized right beside the Magneton and before Violet could give an order, had bashed her with its fists numerous times. The magnetic field, disturbed by the forceful impact, suddenly destabilized and the levitation vanished. The Magneton crashed onto the ground with a metallic ring, helpless, as the ground drained away all the stored electricity within it.

"Return! Go Espeon!" The pink-purple adult Eevee materialized. "Psychic attack!" It seemed as if nothing had happened.

"Ha, she's not doing anything!" shouted Daisy in triumph. "Go take down that Espeon, Machoke!" Meanwhile the Eevee lashed out with a version of fury swipes, striking the Machoke over and over. Meanwhile, the fighting pokemon seemed as if it were in a dazed state, and simply allowed the Espeon to strike it nonstop. "Oh no!" exclaimed Daisy, before quickly recalling her knocked-out, vegetative pokemon. "Well, at least it's not in a critical condition," she muttered to herself. "Go, Nuzleaf!"

The crowd gasped at this choice of pokemon. People almost never used dark-types because they were hard to control and could easily wreak massive havoc… Though this one was so small, how much damage could it do even if it were rogue?

A dark-skinned, miniature pokemon with a single leaf on its head appeared. "All right Nuzleaf, use Torment!" By then, however, Espeon had vanished, and in her place was the already quite-beaten Magneton. The Nuzleaf glared at the Magneton, and suddenly Ash felt a terrible presence exuding from the former. It seemed to emit a dangerous, perhaps deadly vibe… He had never encountered such pokemon before… And he was terrified. That, and he wasn't even the target of the Torment attack.

But the attack itself simply went through the Magneton and had no effect. It was, after all, hard to torment a company of magnets (even if it _did _have a gender). The next moment the Magneton had regenerated her levitation field. With exceptional speed she slammed straight at the Nuzleaf, knocking it flying out of the arena. "Oh no! Nuzleaf, return! Go Machoke!" At this point Violet started laughing at the idiocy of using a mentally incapacitated pokemon, but it seemed Daisy had no experience with the rather uncommon psychic-type pokemon before.

The fighting pokemon reappeared, standing, but with incredibly dazed eyes. Ash tapped into its mind and discovered that the sensation was peculiarly similar to what had happened to him earlier. Just what was it that had happened to him earlier? _Ah yes, _he thought, _how could I have forgotten? Sabrina had subjected me to a psychic attack! That just might be what the move 'psychic' is… It locks down the target's mind, rendering it unable to think. _Within moments Ash was sure that this was what was going on.

But he probed still further. Why was this happening? Now that Ash himself wasn't under its influence, perhaps he could investigate the powers of this spell and so discover how to train his Kirlia to use this ability…

He sensed something in the Machoke's otherwise locked-down mind trying to make sense out of all the confusion, and he 'lent a mind' to it, giving it direction. Suddenly a lot of _something _seemed to have been drawn out of Ash's mind, greatly disconcerting him and giving him an incredible _redundancy _feeling akin to that of nausea. But at the same time the mental binds holding the Machoke's brain in lockdown had been tossed off, and the Machoke suddenly no longer looked quite so dazed.

"Come on Machoke, I'm counting on you! Bash that Magneton!" cried Daisy. Ash didn't pay much attention as the fighting pokemon miraculously recovered from being the target of a Psychic spell to deliver a knockout blow against the clutter of magnets. The impact destabilized her levitation once again, and the static field she had been charging up suddenly back lashed, throwing the magnetic dipoles completely out of alignment.

"Magneton is unable to continue!" shouted the commentator as surprise appeared on the faces of many members of the audience. Ash, however, was feeling quite sick after what unnamed mental process had just taken hold of him, even though nothing was regurgitating. Machoke immediately began to run straight at Violet's platform.

The girl countered with Espeon once again. "Espeon, psychic once again!" It focused intently on the Machoke, which quailed before its intent snare, helpless against psychic powers.

"It looks like Violet is going to use her Espeon to cripple that Machoke with Psychic for the second time in the same match; will Daisy recall Machoke?" asked the commentator.

"No way," shouted Daisy, oblivious to the intricacies of psychic attacks. The Machoke suddenly became retarded once again, its mind sent spiraling illogically and unable to control its body. The Machoke fell flat on its face. The Espeon then was replaced by Violet's Dodrio, which proceeded to peck with incredible force at the unmoving target. "Come on Machoke, don't give up; get back up and win for me!" shouted Daisy innocently.

Ash knew he shouldn't interfere with the match, but decided that his learning about psychic powers may be far more important than who won this match – after all, it was his sister who was on the line.

Ash, knowing that this was probably one of the few times he would ever have an opportunity to interact with psychic pokemon that were not on his side, sent out a feeler to the Machoke, trying to replicate what he thought he had been able to accomplish the first time: helping Machoke out of its mental condition. He didn't know if he had been responsible for it, but as is generally the case with psychics, their intuition turns out to be correct.

The rain had already started to fall, and splattered all over the cloud-darkened arena. A streak of lightning struck across the sky.

Within moments, as Machoke continued to take a beating by Dodrio's sharp beaks, Ash had used his psychic abilities to bring Machoke out of its mental stupor. It suddenly snapped to attention, striking out with its hand to grab Dodrio by one of its three necks, then proceeded to twirl the helpless bird around and around dizzyingly fast before letting go. The centripetal force suddenly gone, Dodrio was sent smack into the roof of the arena. It was comatose upon impact, and Violet quickly recalled her bird pokemon, now desperate against the seemingly psychic-immune Machoke.

"Would you look at that! This Machoke evidently is resistant to psychic attacks!" shouted the surprised commentator. "With two pokemon down and one ineffective against Machoke, will Violet be able to make a come-back?"

"Yes I will," muttered Violet before throwing out her fourth and final pokeball. "Go!" The flash of light from the pokeball materialized into Milotic. Six meters long, this serpent-like water-type pokemon took several hits from Machoke without flinching before proceeding to envelop himself in a field of refreshing water.

"Milotic is using Aqua Ring! Machoke simply isn't able to do enough damage!" shouted the commentator.

Daisy cursed silently at this sudden turn of events, then hit upon an inspiration. A second later the Machoke was gone, replaced by her fourth pokemon, a Raichu. "Charged bolts, now!" shouted Daisy, seizing the initiative.

The Raichu launched his electric attack – and before Violet was able to extract Milotic from the imbalanced situation, had electrocuted him. He crumpled onto the ground, the healing Aqua Ring unable to jump-start his suddenly stopped heart. Within a few minutes, lack of oxygen to its tissues would end its life--

"Hold on for just a while longer, I know you're suffering, just give me one minute," whispered Violet to the recalled Milotic. "Go Espeon! Finish it off for me with a Psychic!" The Raichu squealed in terror and fled, but was smitten anyway.

Finding this yet another opportunity to test his psychic abilities, Ash 'lent a mind' to the Raichu, helping it recover so swiftly from the psychic attack that it didn't seem to be affected at all.

"A miracle!" shouted the commentator as the audience was stunned by yet another example of psychic ineffectuality. "With the life of her Milotic on the line, will Violet continue the match against Daisy's remaining pokemon?" Ash turned his head to the sign board and saw that Daisy still had three pokemon that were fighting fit. He then saw that Violet's hands were shaking from anxiousness.

"Try once more, give it a Psybeam!" she ordered.

For once, the attack was actually visible – a pinkish, purplish ray struck out – at Daisy's Machoke, which had temporarily replaced the Raichu. She then back-swapped the two pokemon, bringing Raichu back out. Ash looked up and saw that the skies were now darkened indeed, and that a thunderstorm was in progress.

"Raichu, lighting, now!" His cheeks began to spark and a second later the arena was filled with a brilliant, bright light as the raging storm above contributed its share to the match. Espeon was literally fried by the hundreds of degrees Celsius of the directed-lightning strike. Children in the audience screamed out in fright as the energy struck right in front of their eyes, blinding them. Simultaneously a deafening roar threatened to blow out everyone's eardrums.

Violet hurriedly recalled the crumpled, burnt remains of her Espeon back into her pokeball, gave one look at the contestant who had beaten her and effectively killed her Espeon, and fled to the poke-Center.

"Gee, I hope she gets there in time, that Espeon looked like it was in a horrible condition even considering the regenerative power of modern medicine," noted Ash, now totally soaked by the thunderstorm. Glumly, Gary merely agreed.

"This match goes to Daisy! All right, and now for our next match," said the announcer several minutes later. "Please applaud the green trainer, Cerulean City Gym Leader Misty, who has already defeated two opponents, all with her single Starmie, and the red trainer, Paul!" The crowd cheered, already having forgotten about the ill-fated Espeon. "Let the match begin!"

"Go Starmie!" shouted Misty, also fully drenched by the rain, throwing her pokeball vertically so that Starmie appeared on the metal hand-bars right beside her platform. _Evidently Misty knows that this weather can play to her disadvantage if she's not careful,_ thought Ash.

Paul, who had on a professional, smug look, threw out his pokeball. "Do whatever you want, but you won't win, Misty." He had summoned a Castform. The one-foot-tall, cloud-like pokemon looked puny compared to Misty's gold-trimmed Starmie. It immediately took on a water-type form based on the rainstorm weather.

"Starmie, Lightning!" shouted Misty abruptly. Paul looked on, aghast. Even if he knew plenty about pokemon, Transformational Machines had made things a lot more complicated in the last decade. The jewel in the center of the starfish pokemon glowed brilliantly and the next moment a second peal of thunder resonated through the arena. Everyone had their eyes covered. By the time Ash had recovered Paul was nowhere to be seen, and neither was his Castform.

_Wow, that was brilliant of Misty, saving that ability for the third round when players would no longer have the time to plan a counter to it. Which reminds me… I've GOT to get some TM's for my pokemon. _

"Well, so much for Paul's bragging," stated Lily. "He must have rushed his Castform to the poke-Center."

"That's the second directed-lightning attack used today," Ash noted to Gary. "I hope whatever you use can withstand lightning."

"Hmm, maybe, maybe not."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That's for me to know, and for you to find out," Gary replied with a smile.

Ash passed the next two rounds wondering what Gary might use in this match. The choices weren't so many: to resist lightning attacks one had better use a ground type or a rock-type, and a ground-type in this rain would be forfeiting before you began the match. Rock types were an obvious choice, which meant that Gary's opponent was bound to have something good against rock-types. And that generally meant an ice-type pokemon, or one with ice-type attacks. Of course, the opponent would probably be thinking the same thing, so he/she would be sure to bring a fire-type pokemon even in this kind of weather… Needless to say, Ash never did pay much attention to the intervening two matches.

"And now, the moment I'm sure you've been waiting for after his previous stunning victories followed by metamorphoses, the green trainer Gary!"

Ash turned to face Gary with an accusatory glance. "How come you're green trainer every time?"

"I'm not so sure," Gary replied. "But I doubt it's because I have the most badges."

"Gary, Gary, he's our man,

"if he can't do it no one can!"

"Ugh, just shut up, why don't you," was on the tip of Ash's lips, but he didn't actually say it to the girls. _Why do they keep using 'man' when Gary's obviously thirteen!?_

"…And last but not least, the red trainer Jasmine, from Fuchsia City!"

"Isn't that Koga's daughter?" Ash asked Lily.

"Yep. Though I hope she doesn't end up using poison pokemon like his father does day in, day out…"

"I certainly hope neither trainer ends up using water pokemon again, seeing as how they are so vulnerable to electrocution… Let the match begin!"

"Go!" grunted both sides as they flung their pokeballs.

"What?!" cried Ash in dismay. "How can he!?" Against Jasmine's Ninetales was Gary's Tangela, a grass type pokemon composed almost entirely of thick, spongy blue vines. "Well, that may be a good choice based solely on the weather, and Ninetales a bad idea, but in this case…" he shook his head in dismay. "And he's not even withdrawing his pokemon!"

"Just watch," said Lily. "I'm sure he will come through."

"It looks like Gary's not going to change his choice of pokemon! Is he content to play the underdog in _every individual match_?" blared the loudspeaker.

"Ha!" cheered Jasmine excitedly. "I sure hope you know what you're doing, or else this contest will be over before I've gotten any pleasure out of it!"

Gary retorted, "Fire types' advantages over grass types are overrated. You'll see. This contest _will _be over before you've gotten any pleasure out of it."

"We'll just see about that," said Jasmine. "go Ninetales, fire spin!" The yellow-white cat-like pokemon swayed its nine tales out of the way, jumped up, and in midair opened its mouth to launch a fierce blast of fire downward. The intense fire spread out in every direction, bursting forth despite the thin sheet of rainwater covering the arena. The blast of fire quickly came straight at Gary's Tangela…


	13. Saffron Tournament Part 3

**The Quest 13: Saffron Tournament Part 3**

Gary didn't say anything as the fire washed over Tangela the way water would. Ash held his breath… and saw that Tangela had puffed up a lot. "Whaa?" He wondered. The pokemon didn't appear even fazed. The next moment Tangela opened its mouth slightly, and a stream of water shot out of its body, evidently the water that had been stored in its spongy vines. _So that's now the Tangela withstood such a vicious attack… _

"It looks like Tangela is holding its own against Ninetales!" cheered the commentator.

"All right Tangela, wrap!" shouted Gary. The Ninetales, still reeling from taking a burst of water to its sensitive face, did not notice until too late that the Tangela had suddenly extended its limbs, wrapping them tightly around the Ninetales. And as this pokemon could only use its fire attacks through its mouth, it was effectively helpless as it was tied up by the weed pokemon.

"Oh no!" exclaimed Jasmine as she used her pokeball to recall the Ninetales. Instead, each time met with failure as the beam of red struck one of Tangela's numerous vines instead.

"Good! All right now, constrict!" The Ninetales breathed fire out its mouth, but that did not come close to burning Tangela. Then it found itself choked by Tangela's vines, which had wrapped around its neck and had started to thicken and constrict. It flailed about helplessly before passing out, suffocated.

"Oh no!" screamed an alarmed Jasmine. Giving up the match, she ran out onto the field, shouting, "I forfeit! Give me back my Ninetales!"

The referee raised the green flag. "And this round goes to the green trainer, Gary of Pallet Town!" The crowd cheered, Ash and Lily loudest of them all.

Gary's exuberance was cut short as he saw Jasmine kneeling before the fainted Ninetales as she recalled the pokemon. "Father uses only poison type pokemon, and he is able to defeat almost all his opponents even though they come at him with psychic, ghost, and plant types… But here I am, losing the match because I can't win over someone whom I have a type advantage over!" she sobbed, before rushing to the poke-Center for a checkup.

Tangela suddenly flared white as its internals reassembled themselves into a much larger, male Tangrowth. He cheered alongside Gary as the enchanted crowd joined in.

Overhead, another peal of thunder.

"And that wraps up the third round of the Saffron Annual Gym Tournament! Stay with us as we approach the finale with the ever-more-exciting fourth round!" Thunderous applause. "We have now narrowed down our contestants from the original sixty-four to merely eight. In the following four matches, we will cut this number by half! First up, the green trainer, Daisy, and the red trainer, Daniel!" Ash joined in with the clapping as the two named trainers approached their platforms (the red one being broken down by Kite's Golem from earlier). "Without further ado, let us begin!"

On Daisy's side, her Machoke. On Daniel's side, an Electabuzz. It was sized more like a lion than a bee, and it had muscle rather than wings, but it had the intense yellow skin characteristic of quite a few electric pokemon. _Hmm, this guy has got naught but electric types, eh?_ Wondered Ash. _At any rate, this match is over before it began. Machoke won't stand long against an electric type._

"All right Electabuzz, lighting!" There was a flash of brilliant light, the peal of thunder. When Ash had recovered he saw the Electabuzz standing, of course, but so was the Machoke, and it didn't seem even fazed.

"How…?" muttered Daniel, flustered. Fighting types weren't supposed to be immune to electric types! Machoke was already running toward the Electabuzz. "Well, never mind what happened earlier. That was a fluke. Now go get'em! Lightning!"

There was a flash of brilliant light, the peal of thunder. And Machoke looked about as unharmed as ever. "How can this be!?" shouted Daniel in wonder as Machoke delivered an intense blow that sent Electabuzz reeling. It limped back up, but would not stand long under Machoke's constant battering. "Return! Go Manectric!"

The Machoke had already veered toward the new pokemon, and they faced off each other, ready to attack. Daniel shouted, "Spark!" The Manectric built up electric potential all over its front and prepared to discharge them upon collision.

"Take down!"

BOOM!

The Machoke was stopped cold in its tracks, but the Manectric was sent backward, seriously bruised and comatose. Daniel gasped. He wanted to rush out of the platform to tend to his pokemon, but then looked at Daisy's Machoke, which had an arm pressed on its chest. It seemed to be in no condition to continue either, and sagged to its knees.

"Machoke looks like its pacemaker has been stalled by the electric surge it just received! I wonder why the previous, ultimate lightning attacks failed to work!" shouted the commentator.

Daisy looked on at Machoke worriedly. "Do you think you can stay through the match?" she asked.

"I… think I'm going to collapse," replied the pokemon before collapsing entirely from oxygen not getting to its myoglobin.

_Hmm… Who's going to forfeit first?_

The two were at a standoff, both knowing that their pokemon were at risk of dying.

"Ladies first," said Daniel with a smile, extending a hand gesturing for her to get down from the platform.

Daisy stared at him intently, before capitulating. "Fine, I'll step down first, though it's quite obvious both pokemon can't take it any more." She stepped down.

"And Daisy's out of the running!" shouted the commentator as the crowd went wild with indecision.

"No," said the referee as he raised the green flag. "This match goes to Daisy for placing her pokemon ahead of the competition." The crowd gasped at this. Daniel looked like he had been kicked in the groin and forced to bite the dust.

"But…"

"Well then, in that case," began a flustered commentator, "The referee has decided that Daisy is to stay in the running!" This must come as a sweet surprise to many of you… On to the next round! And next up, we have the green trainer, Duplica of Celadon City, thrice the fake that has beaten the real, against red trainer Jordan! Let's give them a warm welcome for the second time today!" The audience cheered as both took to their platforms.

"Go Vespiquen!" shouted Jordan. The bee-queen pokemon flew on tiny wings; its abdomen was a honeycomb for the grubs within. Immediately Duplica's ditto had assumed its shape.

The commentator continued, "…This Vespiquen's excellently choreographed use of attack, defend, and heal orders have allowed it to come this far through the competition without having to rely on another pokemon. The same can also be said for the Ditto, now also a Vespiquen. Now we shall see just whether the adage of 'the real is always better than the fake' is true or not!"

"All right Vespiquen, you know what to do," said Jordan. The Vespiquen immediately engaged Attack Order, summoning the seven Combee within into a circular pattern as they moved to engage the foe. The Ditto had also used Attack Order and was doing just as superbly – which was to say, not superbly at all. With the Combees doing most of the fighting, the Vespiquen couldn't get close to one another and so were content with using Sweet Scent.

Just before both could get to the point of collapse, however, both pokemon had switched over to Heal Order as per their trainers' orders, and still neither bothered to attack the other.

"Poison sting!" Duplica shouted abruptly, and suddenly the Combees, which had been feeding the Vespiquen an alternate version of its healing honey, rounded on the opponent, striking its Combees with a poison that soon passed into the honey they were feeding.

"No, don't do heal order, use Defend Order!" shouted Joshua with worry written on his face as he realized that he had been outmaneuvered. The Vespiquen became intoxicated and soon collapsed onto the ground in a spasming fit. "Well, you did well," he managed at last, before rushing out to the poke-Center. The referee raised the green flag.

"And this match goes to Duplica!"

It was now Misty's turn. "And now, let us welcome the green trainer, Misty of Cerulean City, finally getting to face off against the red trainer, ex-boyfriend Aquamarine!" The crowd roared in anticipation of this match.

"All right Misty, no hard feelings, let's just have the best match we've ever had!" said Aquamarine (whose name was quite girlish, yes).

"You got it! And you got more than you asked for, too!" the red-head giggled. "Go Starmie! Water pulse!"

"Go Dewgong!" The seal pokemon appeared. "Ice beam!"

The two attacks struck head-on. Immediately Starmie's horizontal column of water began freezing with incredible speed, freezing all the way to Starmie's gem core itself. Then it proceeded to encase Starmie in a block of ice.

"Come on Misty, you should know better! Cold has a clear type advantage over water!"

"Grrr… Come on Starmie, you can shake it off!" Suddenly electricity began flowing through the oddly shaped block of ice, causing it to crack and melt into pieces.

"Dewgong, let's get that Starmie again!" announced Aquamarine with a smile.

"Oh no you don't! Starmie, use Swift on Aquamarine!" Ash knew very well that Swift was one physical attack that was famous for not missing once actually carried to completion.

Her ex-boyfriend heard this, and immediately ordered his Dewgong, "stop that Starmie with ice beam!" Beams of ice shot out along Starmie's airborne trajectory (it was using its rapid spin technique to stay in the air) but none struck. Starmie dealt a blow to Aquamarine, snapping his arm in the process. Ash gritted his teeth, knowing that he must be under intense pain.

"Dewgong I told you to stop that Starmie!" he shouted as the starfish pokemon prepared to strike yet again. Suddenly Starmie halted mid-attack, encased in ice. The water pulse it had used on Aquamarine also froze, locking the Dewgong's trainer in an icy (and slightly bloodied) prison.

"Aquamarine is unable to continue the match! The winner of this quarter final is Misty!" blared the announcer as several nurses rushed over to attend to injuries.

From his seat in the audience, Ash watched in amazement. _Yet another example of using the enemy's advantages against them! That Starmie and Misty are a really good team and are really skilled with pokemon tactics in order to be able to achieve that kind of result. Starmie's been able to vanquish all the opponents they've encountered for four matches and counting…_

"Now for the last match of the quarter finals, it's the green trainer Artel versus the red trainer Gary! For each beating three other trainers, let's give them a round of applause!..." _Well for once it's different,_ thought Ash.

"Gary, Gary, he's our man,

"if he can't do it no one can!"

"Well," said Gary to the crowd after smiling to the girls, "I have yet another pokemon that's itching to metamorphose – after this match, of course," he taunted.

"Well it'll have to itch some more then," Artel taunted back.

In response, Gary silently put on earmuffs, which earned an angry glare from Artel.

"And now let the match begin!"

"Go Kadabra!" The same class of pokemon that Gary's Abra had evolved into was now the opponent. Now everyone turned to see what youngster pokemon Gary would use…

"_Rock-a-by ba-by on the tree-top, when the wind blows, the cradle will rock—"_

_Darn, those earmuffs weren't just for show, _thought Ash groggily as Igglybuff's song set him, and just about everyone in the arena, asleep. Angry, Igglybuff frowned, its entire body swelling and taking on an angry red glow.

He was awakened by someone spraying him with an Awakening Potion – "Nurse Joy!"

"Calm down, everything's all right," she replied for what must have been the umpteenth time. All around him were trainers who were groggy from just being awakened – and almost all of them had comical marker marks plastered on their faces. The Kadabra's spoon had been marked on too, as was its entire body. From what Ash could tell – and he could tell a lot, being a psychic – the Kadabra had been knocked silly by Igglybuff's pound attacks and had fainted instead of simply falling asleep.

"Wha – huh? Oh darn it, Kadabra's asleep! Go Geodude!" shouted Artel – before realizing that Geodude was asleep also, because sounds could enter pokeballs even if they could not leave them. "Grr… Well then, I have to choose a pokemon that never sleeps. Go Munchlax! Huh? GRR!! Why can't you be munching – and _awake_ - like you always are!? Go Noctowl! Darn, forgot that it sleeps all day…!"

_What, you chose a pokemon that sleeps all day for a tournament that only takes place at daytime? What an amateur's mistake, _thought Ash. _Oh well, so be it…_

"Artel is out of pokemon! Gary is the winner!" declared the referee, holding up the green flag.

Suddenly the Igglybuff glowed white, and transformed into the significantly larger Jigglypuff. "See, I told you it'll be evolving, and I wasn't wrong," said Gary matter-of-factly. Artel simply shook in embarrassment when he discovered that he had massive black marks all over his face.

"What an upset match! Red trainer Gary has just defeated green trainer Artel! And that concludes the semifinals! We have two more rounds, and only three more matches, to go before the winner is decided! In the semifinals trainers may use six pokemon!" announced the loudspeaker. "So let us welcome… the green trainer, Duplica, and the red trainer, Daisy!"

Only now did Ash realize how bad he was at pokemon matches. He had lost to Dawn, who had lost to Violet, who had lost to Daisy… He smiled at the irony of it.

"Go Pineco!" The diminutive pokemon looked incredibly similar to a pine cone. The moment Pineco came out, Duplica's Ditto had transformed into it. "As I expected, you can't teach a copycat new tricks," said Daisy wryly.

"Says who?" Duplica demanded to know. "I can improvise new moves right now! Spike spin!" The Ditto-become-Pineco turned like a top with its scales suddenly spike-sharp and spun toward the real Pineco.

"Says me! Detonate!" Duplica only then realized her mistake as suddenly the real Pineco exploded, sending shards of its blue scales flying everywhere and inflicting deadly harm on the Ditto, while itself merely fainting. Daisy had out another pokeball. "I still have another five pokemon. But do you?" she said in a superior-sounding voice.

"Ditto, no!" screamed Duplica as she recalled the pokemon into her pokeball and rushed to get it restored back to normal.

"Looks like I'm up yet again," noted Gary with a smile. "I probably won't be coming back to this seat until after I've either won or lost the tournament…"

"Gary, Gary, he's our man,

"if he can't do it no one can!" cheered the girls. By this point quite a few dozen members of the audience had joined in with uttering the second line after seeing the string of totally unexpected successes.

Gary turned to the members of the audience who were right next to him. "Anyone have an un-metamorphosed pokemon they want to see me use in the finals? Well this is your chance!" Immediately several hands were raised, each holding a pokeball and vying for Gary's attention. Smiling warmly, the contestant took one of the pokeballs and remembered the name and appearance of its owner before approaching the arena.

"And for the second and last round of the semifinals, let's give it up for the green trainer, metamorphose-on-the-spot extraordinaire Gary! And for the red trainer, Cerulean City Gym Leader Misty!" Gary stepped up to the arena first, but before Misty had stepped up, two figures shrouded in darkness had appeared seemingly from nowhere, their black outlines threatening.

TAKE-OUT

So don't get confused

"Let's give a standing ovation to green trainer Duplica of Celadon City, who has proven three times already that superior tactics means much more than whether a pokemon is real or not!

And let us also give it to red trainer Misty, whose skill as water-dancer extraordinaire may just be surpassed by her pokemon training abilities!" Everyone cheered.

"I'll show you! Go, Starmie!" said Misty, throwing out her pokeball the moment the referee lowered both flags. The ten-legged starfish materialized, keeping perfect balance on the ruined platform that Misty was required to stand on.

On the other side of the arena, Duplica's gelatinous, amoeboid Ditto assumed Starmie's shape before balancing perfectly on the still well-defined platform. "This'll be easy. Environment makes a big difference, you know."

"We know!" Misty shouted back, quite irritated.

Both sides voiced their orders simultaneously. "LIGHTNING!"

Twin bolts of lightning creased through the darkened sky, striking with pinpoint precision at both Starmies and the platforms they were on. Everyone glanced away or closed their eyes as the brilliant intensity of it all filled the arena.

When the turned back to look, Duplica and her pokemon were still on the hand-rail, and uninjured. Evidently the metallic hand-rail had acted as a ground, rendering the attack ineffective. The same, however, couldn't be said of Misty's side: she was unconscious, head cracked on the ground and losing blood profusely; her hands were a twisted mess. Her Starmie was in even worse shape, much of the exterior skin completely vaporized.

The commentator for once could not find any words for the spectacle, so he didn't say anything.

Several nurses immediately ran out on the field, laden with packs of regenerative potions which they immediately poured over Misty and her pokemon. There was about two minutes' waiting, before a fully recovered Misty, as beautiful a redhead as before, awoke and solemnly recalled her likewise-healed Starmie back into her pokeball. With a single nod to Duplica, she left the field.

"And the winner of this round is Duplica…"

Ash was taken aback by this episode. _How can the real one lose to the fake? It… It just shouldn't happen! Never mind that for Duplica she won against all the other very real pokemon the other trainers had thrown at her, but this… this means trouble. I wonder how Gary will fare against Duplica in the final…_


	14. Saffron Tournament Part 4

**The Quest 14: Saffron Tournament Part 4**

"Prepare for trouble!" This motto was starting to lose its originality to Ash, but it never lost its ability to instill terror.

"Make it double!" said the man, glaring at the woman in the team.

"To protect the world from devastation,"

"To unite all peoples within our nation,"

"To announce the goods of truth and love," _This is getting weird,_ thought Ash --

"To look and wish upon the stars above,"

"Jessie!" The two looked really mad at each other--

"James!"

"Saffron psychics blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

The two leered at each other, and were joined by a Machamp, a three-meter-tall, four-armed fighting pokemon "THAT'S RIGHT!!".

From the far side of the arena, Sabrina, who had been presiding over the tournament, stood up the moment they were finished. "How dare the lot of you intrude in the Saffron City Gym like it is your back yard? Now get out!" she pointed her hand to the side exit.

"Exactly, what's with this stupid idea of bringing in a Machamp here!?" demanded James.

"Why are you blaming me for your idiotic idea? I don't know why we're here!?" replied Jessie.

"This calls for a battle," declared James, taking his gun out of his holster. Jessie had done likewise. "I dare you to shoot, if you have a death-wish," he added.

"I double-dare you!"

"That's it!" They both flipped off the safeties, and the next moment the Machamp had snatched their guns out of their hands. With its remaining two hands the Machamp grabbed a terrified Jessie and James by their collars. "Waa!! Let me go!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight," said Machamp, bashing their heads together. James immediately fell limp.

"Ugh… I… feel so woozy…" said Jessie, helpless as the Machamp carried them off like two sacks of rice.

"Well… that was comic relief," stated Misty as she entered the arena. "With Sabrina watching our backs, I think we can have a nice match, don't you think?" Meanwhile, the thunderstorm had ceased, replaced with bland cloud cover.

The crowd laughed nervously, still quite shocked and disconcerted from their close encounter with an idiotic Team Rocket pair.

Lily muttered to Ash, "What I'm wondering is how even Gary stands a chance against Sabrina." _Exactly, _thought Ash. _She'll just make all the pokemon turn on Gary, if not make him do something foolish like change his underwear in front of everybody…_

"Well then, it's back to business! Go Starmie!" shouted Misty as she threw the pokeball with a backspin.

"I choose you, Yanma!" Gary's damselfly pokemon materialized near the center of the arena and immediately took to the air. As was nearly the norm for Gary, it was un-metamorphosed. "Go for Misty!"

Misty's teeth started chattering when she saw what she was up against. It came straight at her.

"Slow it down with Bubblebeam!" A wide, bluish beam struck home on the Yanma, coating its clear wings with a foamy coat of bubbles that generated tremendous air resistance.

"Sonic boom!" The Yanma turned mid-flight to emit a shockwave of sound that shattered the glass wall in front of the first row of the audience. Misty screamed in terror as the sudden noise rippled across her eardrums, and the Yanma had blown the foam residue off itself. The Starmie flinched as well, right before it was able to use an electric attack. By the time it recovered, it couldn't use it anymore because the Yanma was already hovering right in front of Misty's terrified face.

"Get it off of me!" she screamed, flailing her arms helplessly as her phobia of bugs caused her to run about the platform in a futile attempt to evade the Yanma. The Starmie shot out a burst of water, but it did little to scare away the Yanma. "I don't care about the contest any more, I'm getting out of here!" screamed Misty as she ran off the platform, her arms in the air as she fled.

The referee held up the green flag. "And this match goes to Gary of Pallet Town!"

Gary smiled as the crowd cheered. Moments later the Yanma had begun metamorphosing as well. At this, the crowd went totally wild in amazement. Ash looked on, unbelieving. This was the fourth metamorphosis in one day. Did Gary have nothing but an arsenal of pokemon ripe to metamorphose? On the sidelines, a terrified Misty was still hyperventilating from her close encounter with a bug, however harmless it may actually be.

Ash looked on with suspicion as amidst the jubilation the ever-stoic Sabrina was called by an attendant to attend to some matters outside the gym.

Gary stayed on the arena but moved to the opposite side, and its demolished platform, as he recalled the Yanmega back into his pokeball. The commentator's voice could barely be heard above the crowd. "And now, for the final round, and the match you've all been waiting for, we pit green trainer Daisy of Pewter City and her unbelievable Machoke and company, against our new darling contestant, the metamorphose-every-match red trainer Gary of Pallet Town!" Moments later Daisy entered the arena, stopping on the still standing platform.

"Let the match begin!"

Suddenly two familiar strangers ran into the arena. It was the same pair as the blundering blokes who had been carted off by the Machamp in ignominy. But Sabrina wasn't here this time, and Ash surmised that she was the one who had been confounding the trio last time. "Prepare for trouble!" said one.

"Go Raichu!" shouted Daisy, disregarding what was happening.

"Make that double!" _What a bunch of idiots, do they intend to fight against the hundred trainers in this arena?!_ Wondered Ash, incredulous.

"Pidgey, I choose you!" said Gary in like fashion. The bird pokemon appeared and immediately soared into the sky.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!" The crowd gasped in terror as Team Rocket pulled out one gun each. Unlike the matches, an intrusion by Team Rocket called for a _battle _ -- one that spelled life and death for real.

"Raichu, electrocute that Pidgey!"

"Pidgey, use Sand-attack!" Before Raichu could unleash its attack, it had been blinded, while the Pidgey soared out of the way.

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Go Jirachi!" shouted someone from the crowd, tossing the pokeball into the ring. A doll-like, white-steel pokemon emerged. Many others were trying to flee the arena, but were making a big noise out of it.

"Agility, now!" shouted Gary as Raichu began shooting charged bolts into the bird pokemon's general vicinity.

"Jessie!" she said, releasing a trio of pokeballs into the air. They materialized into a Victreebel, an Absol, and a Graveler, which immediately took up protective places around the trainers.

"Go Magnemite!" shouted Gary, using his second pokemon in a tournament where only one was allowed. Not that anyone cared at this point – getting rid of Team Rocket was important. The large magnet pokemon materialized in front of Gary and caught a mischievous bullet headed his way. It was sent spinning onto the ground, but the bullet made only a minor scratch on the metallic surface. Gary was terrified, but continued.

"James!" said the other member of the pair, throwing a trio of pokeballs into the air. They released a – instead of releasing, however, they were suddenly attracted to the tips of the Magnemite, and there they remained.

"Go Gastly! Use Destiny Bond to protect the trainers out on the field!" Dark stars suddenly streaked into the cloaks of the Team Rocket pair.

Pidgey had soared high into the air. "Pidgey, use Whirlwind!" It immediately began blowing up a massive dust devil which spun directly at the opposing Raichu. _What the? _Wondered Ash. _Is Gary going to try challenging both his opponent and Team Rocket simultaneously?_

"Team rocket blast off at the speed of light!" shouted Jessie, shooting her gun blindly into the air as the crowd screamed in terror. Several additional trainers had let loose their pokeballs.

"Manectric, take down those intruders!" shouted Daniel from the sidelines.

"Ditto, transform into Machamp right now!" ordered Duplica.

Manectric powered up for another lightning bolt attack, but it instead struck the Graveler, doing next to nothing against the electric-immune pokemon. The two Machamps in the middle of the arena began a wrestling match, ignoring the several bullets they soon each sustained.

Bullets began whizzing. "Go Misdreavus!" shouted another Officer Jenny, and the ghost pokemon materialized, casting Payback on Jessie, whose side suddenly sported a gunshot round absent a bullet.

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!" James finished the motto, tossing three more pokeballs into the air. They opened up on the ground, the Magnemite having been saturated with holding the first three.

"Break their pokeballs!" shouted Officer Jenny to the grunts who were arrayed alongside her. They suddenly ducked as bullets struck the empty seats right in front of them. Those members of the audience who couldn't flee to the exit cuddled between rows of seats, neatly hidden out of view and protected by the rows of seats before them.

"Absol, future sight, now!" ordered Jessie. The dark-type wolf-like pokemon immediately tapped into its dark-energy reserves and countered Jirachi's Psybeam attack.

"THAT'S RIGHT!!" roared Machamp in victory, toppling the bullet-ridden fake.

"Raichu, clean out your eyes and get that Pidgey!" shouted Daisy, cuddling behind the platform, which was now riddled with holes. She released another pokeball which materalized into Machoke. The fighting pokemon joined Dawn's Hitmonchan to fight three-on-one against the enemy Machamp, gradually taking it down.

"Pidgey, return!" shouted Gary, before releasing an until-this-point unknown pokemon from the pokeball a member of the audience had entrusted to him earlier. It looked very similar to a poke-ball, only it was the size of a beach ball. "Ah, a Voltorb! Light barrier!" shouted Gary to the Voltorb as a precaution. Immediately Gary was encompassed by a blinding light that prevented anyone from setting their sights on him.

"We want your pokemon, Gary!" shouted Jessie.

Meanwhile a grunt had systematically shot and broken the three ultra-balls that Magnemite had been holding, instantly releasing the pokemon. They looked around, confused and startled, but evidently had no interest in obeying their former masters.

"Starmie, ice beam on the Machamp!" screamed Misty, having just rushed back from the poke-Center. Simultaneously, Jessie had tossed out her remaining three pokemon.

"Yeah, we can earn a lot of money from selling them off again! Muk, smoke screen!" added James.

Victreebel screamed in agony as officers' bullets went straight through its skin, causing the digestive juices within to spill out onto the arena.

Starmie's beam struck home, freezing the Machamp in a prison of ice that steadily turned red from hemoglobin.

"Disaster!" shouted Absol in ambiguous warning.

From the relative safety of the rows of seats, stranded members of the audience donated an Onix, a Kabutops, and a horde of other pokemon. Kite threw out a pokeball which released his Golem, and it immediately began a rolling tackle, ignoring bullets like they were mosquito stings.

Ash suddenly found the Absol looking directly at him. A pulse of darkness suddenly struck him head-on, and he reeled back, mind faltering as the most intense migraine he had ever experienced wracked his head, torturing him helplessly.

"No, Raichu!" shouted Daisy, terrified.

Bullets aimed for Gary instead struck the slightly illuminated but otherwise transparent barrier that Voltorb's electricity had erected. The shots vanished harmlessly into the dazzling light, far away from where Gary really was. "Roll in Team Rocket's direction!" shouted Gary.

A stray bullet shot Daisy in the throat and she toppled over without a sound, near dead. But it didn't go unnoticed to one of the nurses, who tossed a pokeball into the stand. A Chansey appeared and, upon seeing the unconscious Daisy, immediately cracked one of its healing eggs over the wound. Immediately it began to reseal; the restorative powers of a Chansey were famous for working without the need for combination with other pokemons' secretions.

A Snorlax suddenly flattened the Graveler, preventing it from continuing the fight.

The arena was reduced to a total mess as Golem, Graveler, and Onix tangled themselves in a rocky waste. Nearby, a Kabutops and a Scyther traded blades. A Jynx joined the fray, attempting unsuccessfully to seduce the Absol into defeat.

Someone's Charizard suddenly lifted Jessie like a prey into the air and, ignoring the grievous wounds caused by a multitude of bullets from the terrified woman, slammed her head-first into the arena wall. She tumbled down to the ground, her skull cracked and oozing.

Daisy's Raichu, already dizzy from being buffeted by a whirlwind, was suddenly knocked backward by Gary's Magnemite. It collapsed, unable to continue.

A beam of ice shot out of Aquamarine's Dewgong, locking James in place. Meanwhile, Ash recovered at last, still in a state of sheer terror and trauma after the dark attack by the Absol.

The Voltorb had gotten to position. "All right, Explode!"

**BOOOOMMMM!!**

After the explosion had subsided, Team Rocket's section of the arena was a total disaster. Broken bones and spilled entrails littered the place. The icy prison surrounding James was entirely melted off, and he had collapsed to the ground with an arm missing.

"That'll teach you not to fight against us," said Gary at the two fainted (or worse) Team Rocket members. Mere seconds later the dozens of pokemon fielded by the other trainers had mopped up the remaining opposition.

Aside from the three pokemon that were freed from their ultra-balls and the Graveler, the rest of Team Rocket's pokemon had been slain in battle. Quite a few pokemon belonging to the trainers were likewise fallen. The nurses rushed to bring them all to the adjacent poke-Center, but it was obvious that those who had fallen early on were the so-called 'beyond-dead' who could no longer be revived. They were the permanent casualties of the battle.

As the noise subsided, people gradually came out of hiding from behind the seats.

Daisy finally awoke. "Ugh… What happened?" she asked confusedly.

"Is everything all right?" shouted Gary to the platform on the other side, having barely moved a step since the Team Rocket debacle began. The Chansey there nodded. "Whew! That's good."

For a minute no one did much anything, while everyone breathed heavily. A nurse had administered a potion to the Voltorb, and it had rolled back to its trainer, who was incredibly scared both for himself and for his pokemon. Gary's Pidgey metamorphosed on the spot into the much larger bird Pidgeotto, and his Magnemite evolved into Magneton as well. _Twice in one match?! Unbelievable!_

The referee finally came out of hiding. "Wow, this incredible!" he announced with fervor. "I watched the entire battle and saw the contestants' performance – not only did they help defeat Team Rocket, but they kept up the battle against each other!" The crowd, still attempting to recover from such a near-death experience, looked at him blankly. "But of the two of them, Gary was by far the more capable, not fleeing, handling the situation excellently, simultaneously fighting on two fronts, and not the slightest bit injured. I think you would all agree that Gary handled the battle best out of all of you."

The battle over, people who had fled the gym building earlier were now returning in droves to watch the finale.

Ash turned to look, and saw that Gary was still standing on his ruined platform. Daisy was as well, but she hadn't avoided being shot at…

Moments later Sabrina rushed back into the room with a mad expression, and without asking what had happened, scanned peoples' minds for a much more informative description of the battle that had transpired. She slapped her aide, whom she had unceremoniously dragged along back to the gym. "see, I told you it was a trick," she said. "A lure-the-lion-off-the-mountain trick." The aide turned all red at having been taken for a fool. She took something small out of her purse, and walked up to Gary.

"You won the tournament, Gary. And it was a showdown no one expected. You risked your life today, more so than perhaps everyone else. You did more than everyone else to defend this gym when I was gone and while everyone was in lethal danger. For that, you deserve this." In the most graceful moments, she opened Gary's hand and put the item in his palm. He gave one look at the item and gasped in astonishment. Sabrina cooed, "No one has earned a Soul Badge from me since Kadabra evolved into Alakazam two years ago. You deserve this. Take it."

_Well, that's one way of earning a Soul Badge I would never want to experience personally,_ thought Ash. _On the other hand, that's some reward! With Sabrina being Saffron City Gym Leader and undefeated two years running, and with badges expiring every five years, the Soul Badge had become the most valuable of all sixteen, trading on the black market for around 1,200,000.00…_

Gary bowed gratefully, then looked back up at Sabrina. "I can't thank you enough for this badge, but I think that if I received this I should at least try you out in a match, like the champion the tournament is meant to select, even if I don't win."

Sabrina smiled. "The tournament is for my amusement. I have analyzed your psychic potency. For all the courage and skill you have demonstrated today, you don't stand a chance against me. Even if you became an adult. That's why this badge is so rare."

"Well, we shall see, won't we?" Gary smiled. Sabrina smiled back. "Whoa!" exclaimed Gary in surprise as he was suddenly levitated off the ground and unnaturally stuck to the ceiling some thirty meters high. Ash looked around and saw that her vaunted Alakazam wasn't even around to help, which meant that Sabrina was doing this all by herself…

A split second after Gary had suddenly found himself helplessly stuck to the ceiling, Ash, his Kirlia, the Jynx, the Jirachi, Misty's Starmie, and Violet's Espeon all joined forces to bring Gary back to earth. It seemed as if everyone wanted the match to happen.

Sabrina's eyes showed her surprise as it seemed as if Gary's psychic resistance were somehow stronger than Sabrina's. Then she smiled again and turned to the audience. "Hey, no cheating." Turning back to Gary: "Fine, I'll give you your match. I promise, it will be fast."

"Well, I didn't get this far in the tournament just to lose, nor to give up without a try," responded Gary.

Sabrina turned to face the arena at the center of the gym, which was now cleared out.

Suddenly the entire arena began to rise, going from floor to ceiling in a short while. Along with the arena floor rose the walls, which obstructed the view to the interior. "I'll be waiting for you at the center, Gary," she said, before suddenly vanishing. Gary looked aghast at the disappearing girl, then at the door to the center of the arena, before walking in hesitantly.


	15. A Psychics' Showdown

**The Quest 15: A Psychics' Showdown**

Ash attempted to look into Gary's mind, since he was still unable to sense the true arena's layout, nor could he try peeking into Sabrina's mind unless he had a death-wish.

The layout of the true Gym arena was in table form, with a total of nine rooms arranged in three rows and three columns. At the four corners of each room were two-way teleportation pads that whisked Gary from one room to another seemingly at random. Gary got lost in a hurry in the unusually designed maze, having had little true exposure to the psychic power that Ash had confronted when he was on the road to Saffron City.

After each teleportation, Gary had no idea where he was at, but Ash recalled that after the cave-in with the Snorlax the center of this arena had been crushed, demolished, and since reconstructed. But since it had only been a short while the construction had been anything but complete, with a lot of ramshackle components propping up the ceiling (now the roof of the gym). This, in contrast with the polished walls that were characteristic of the gym interior, meant that Ash could, from vicariously viewing through Gary's eyes the appearance of the room, determine which room it was.

With notebook in hand, Ash began to draw the teleporter layout. Every time Gary teleported, he recorded where that brought him to. And although Gary was now totally lost, Ash soon had the correct path in hand. He figured that since Sabrina had the total advantage with her incredible psychic abilities, it wasn't truly unfair to be leveling the playing field by aiding Gary – psychically, of course. He opened up a psychic channel with Gary.

((Gary!))

_OWW!! What the!? Who is this?_

((It's me, Ash!))

_Ash, if you don't have anything good to say get out of my head now, it hurts worse than a migraine!_

((I'll be quick. Take the opposite, then left.)) And then he immediately got out of Gary's head.

As Ash continued to follow Gary's moments, he saw that Gary was smart enough to listen. Soon enough, he had reached the central room where Sabrina was waiting. Beside her was her Alakazam, the final stage of the Abra-Kadabra metamorphosis chain.

"Well, you got here just before I was going to disqualify you for taking so long," Sabrina taunted him smilingly. The sounds came out muffled but still meaningful through the walls.

"Matter over mind," Gary replied.

"I knew you'd say that for a comeback," replied Sabrina. "You really want to continue? Well then, use your Haunter, and let's see what happens." The next moment Gary had summoned a – you guessed it – Haunter.

"Hmm, you may be a good mind-reader, and no one may be able to read your mind, but psychic types have weaknesses," said Gary promptly. "Haunter, lick!"

The ghost pokemon put out its gigantic, inflating tongue and proceeded to lick the Alakazam. Even though ghost pokemon weren't bound to this world and thus couldn't be affected, they could affect the world through strange ways. For example, suddenly the Alakazam was nearly overcome by a sense of bliss… The warmth and affectionate feelings of the lick almost caused it to lose its concentration.

But it didn't. Instead, the next moment it had teleported along with Sabrina into another room, leaving Gary in the dark.

Ash immediately picked up where the teleportation had been to. After all, having teleported for who knows how many times with his Ralts-become-Kirlia, he knew the psychic signature of a teleportation spell. In mere seconds he had located Sabrina's new location, found the shortest path that would lead Gary to her room, and informed Gary.

_Thanks Ash, but it still HURTS!! _Gary replied promptly before dashing to the teleporter. Meanwhile the Haunter simply Trespassed through the wall, a monstrous smile on its face.

"You were fast this time," complimented Sabrina. Without moving her lips she had given an order to Alakazam. It struck out with a Psychic attack, and Gary simply collapsed onto the ground, his mind fruitlessly spinning in circles like a tire stuck in mud would.

Ash concentrated on 'lending a mind' and within a few moments had repaired Gary's thought structure. He stood back up, fazed but unwilling to quit.

Ash suddenly felt a presence in his mind. Sabrina: ((I noticed earlier with that Machoke that someone in the audience has been interfering in matches, and I know it can't be Gary. Might it be you, Ash?)) Ash was suddenly very aghast: his secret was out!

"Haunter, Entrance!" Immediately the ghost pokemon began making all sorts of silly gestures, changing its appearance at will into a translucent cartoon of several blunder head stooges going at each other with clubs. Sabrina looked on solemnly, resisting the temptation to laugh. The Alakazam smiled a bit, until suddenly it righted itself and closed its eyes. The Haunter immediately switched to making all kinds of eerie, never before heard noises that distracted the Alakazam to no end.

"Go Butterfree!" announced Gary, and the magnificently decorated butterfly pokemon materialized in front of Alakazam. Distracted, the psychic pokemon opened its eyes, and was suddenly swamped with an unfounded phobia for bug pokemon. It backed away, even teleported from the quite harmless Butterfree, at the same time thoroughly disconcerted by Haunter's lunatic antics.

"Butterfree, sleep powder!" Ash recognized it immediately as the move that Gary had used in the failed attempt to catch the Team Rocket pair that had stolen his pokemon. The Butterfree flapped its wings, releasing a cloud of sleep-inducing spores. Sabrina silently watched the match with her eyes closed as Alakazam generated an invisible barrier of its own that proceeded to disintegrate the sleep powder.

_Well, if ghost and bug types won't work… _"This calls for tougher measures," said Gary. "Go Mightyena! Shadow Ball!" A black-and-white-furred, wolf pokemon appeared and glared its red eyes at Alakazam. Suddenly it opened its maw, and a spherical pocket of dark energy slammed into Alakazam, sending it reeling in pain as it nearly collapsed. The dark pokemon continued shooting shadow balls at its opponent, sadistically delighting in the pain inflicted.

Nearly.

In response Alakazam, despite the intense suffering it must be in, shot a Psybeam straight at Mightyena. A swift battle of finds then took place, one in which the much more experienced Alakazam was sure to win. The Shadow Ball forming in the Mightyena's mouth suddenly imploded, knocking out the pokemon.

"Return! Go Misdreavus!" shouted Gary worriedly, summoning his dark-ghost pokemon.

"Don't you think that's a bit too many pokemon against just my one Alakazam?" protested Sabrina. The next moment Alakazam had shot a Psybeam straight at Gary. Ash, who had been in Gary's mind the whole time, suddenly felt a third presence join in. Gary reeled in confusion as two strange psychic influences battled for control of his mind.

And, of course, Ash was no match for Alakazam, so his mental presence was 'kicked out the door'. Alakazam then erected a mental barrier in Gary's mind preventing Ash from returning, and Ash knew better than to test his psychic strength against that of a psychic pokemon.

Thereafter Gary, acting a bit insane, started issuing a string of nonsense commands to a confused Misdreavus before singing to himself like a lunatic.

"I think this match is over," said Sabrina nonchalantly as she snapped her fingers. The next moment Sabrina, Gary, and their pokemon teleported out of the arena. There, the audience, who had been informed by the commentator about what was going on out of view, cheered for Sabrina's very much expected success.

"Sabrina! What did you do to him!?" Ash demanded to know.

"Psybeam, of course. I gave him three opportunities to beat my Alakazam with his pokemon before I did it, so…"

"Fix him up right now!"

A menacing presence entered his mind. ((Don't tell me what to do, or you'll regret it.))

_Ugh.. Okay…_

Alakazam then shot another Psybeam at Gary, and moments later Gary seemed a lot more sensible. Meanwhile people began filing out of the gym, the show having ended. Ash was about to leave too, consoling Gary over his loss. There was a tap on his shoulder, and Ash turned around. "What, Sabrina?"

"Come with me, I know something I would like to tell you in private."

"Huh? What's it about?"

"Just come with me and you'll know." Mutely, Ash followed. Sabrina led Ash (and the Kirlia on his shoulder) to a small room at the edge of the gym. On the wall was a large oval mirror, but other than that and a desk it was mostly empty.

"Well, what's it all about?"

"Pardon me, but during the matches I had peered inside your mind and looked through your memories—"

"You did WHAT!?"

"Well, now you know what it feels like to have your mind violated by psychics," responded Sabrina with her arms crossed. "Don't tell me you haven't done it."

"I… er…" Ash knew that it was no good lying. "So what did you figure out?"

"Well, it strikes me that with all the traveling you're doing, and with all the trouble of finding your sister being placed on your shoulder, you must be terribly lonely. What you need is a traveling companion."

"Well, I have my trio of pokemon for that," said Ash. "My Kirlia is always on my shoulder, and there's my guardian pokemon Charmeleon, and my newfound friend Cloyster."

Sabrina shook her head. "Pokemon have their place. They can't replace a _human _companion."

"What need have I for a traveling companion!?"

"All your life you've lived with Kay and Delia. You've been out by yourself for what, over a month now? Don't fool yourself – I know that you have the need, the desire—"

"Okay, that's enough!" screamed Ash. "I don't like where this conversation is going!" The Kirlia on his shoulder hunched over and whimpered. "I've traveled for this long without there being any trouble, so there!"

"But aren't you even interested?" asked Sabrina petulantly.

"Well, now that you mention it, yes," succumbed Ash. "But still, I'll end up traveling with a stranger. And I definitely _don't _want to travel with a psychic atomic bomb like you," he retorted.

Sabrina looked hurt. "What makes you think I'd even consider traveling with you? Even considered our six-year age difference?"

"Well then, who do you have in mind?"

"Always leave it up to the psychic to get you a blind date," said Sabrina, before conjuring an image on the mirror. As Ash expected, it was the image of a total stranger. From a single glance Ash could estimate her as a girl about his age, maybe slightly smaller.

"A _date!? _I thought you were talking about a—"

"Companion, yes, what do you think the word means? Are you so dense?"

_What the heck!? _"But.. but… WHY!?" roared Ash. "How old do you think I am, that I _need _to have a girlfriend already!?" He wanted to simply storm away at that moment. _I definitely don't need a girlfriend yet, not while I have so much to do, and any girlfriend I do get I won't be keeping for long, not at the rate at which I'm losing matches. Right… This random girl, girlfriend to a pokemon trainer whose match record is 0-1. What do you take her for, an idiot!?_

"Why?" replied Sabrina. "Because I'm a psychic, and I know these things. You may not like it at all now, but believe me, you will more likely than not fall in love with each other in the foreseeable future."

"Baloney! I don't know this person at all! And guess what I'm going to be thinking of when I finally do meet her – 'this is the person who Sabrina thought would fall in love with me, and I her!' Do you think after that, that there will be any opportunity for this to work out, since if I'm so sure she will fall for me, I won't even try to win her favor, and since I won't fall for her anyway, seeing as how she will simply remind me of the argument I'm having with you right now!?"

"Well, but from your attitude right now you won't be believing a whit of what I'm saying, so you will still end up trying your best to win her, and trust me, when you get around to meeting her your first thought will not be about this conversation."

"Look, Sabrina, I don't care how vaunted a psychic you may be, but you are not me, you do not know as much about myself as I do, so I think I can make my own decisions better than you. And no matter how good a psychic you are, you don't have a crystal ball, so you're no good at predicting the future!"

"Yes I am, you'll see…"

((Actually, no,)) Kirlia chimed in. ((I have been traveling a lot with Ash, and according to me he's much closer to Lily than he his to some stranger like her. See, even the mention of Lily gets him turning red.))

((You have not got even close as much psychic experience as I do,)) retorted Sabrina telepathically as Ash listened in on their silent debate.

((Well before you go blabbering on about your experiences, you're a human, how much psychic potential can you have? I'm an emotion pokemon, and the first rule of love is emotion, emotion, emotion! Beat that!))

((You may think that what I'm about to say won't beat that, but trust me, it will, and basically it's the fact that I'm a _human girl_, unlike you, a _girl-like pokemon,_ so—))

((No, the fact that you haven't yet had a break-up with any boys doesn't matter, that just goes to show your ignorance in the entire ordeal--))

((Oh you're fooling yourself if you think Lily and Ash isn't a deteriorating pair--))

"Aargh!" screamed Ash futilely as the pair of psychics continued to debate each other on the merits of their conflicting predictions. He quit following their conversation as hey both attempted to use their psychic power to predict what the other side would say next and thus respond to it preemptively to the point that nothing made quite as much sense to him any more.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Four days had passed since the last day of the Saffron tournament. Ash had since finished taking notes about what he remembered from the individual matches, writing down all the tactics that he knew he would have to get his pokemon used to. He had made a vow not to return home until he had found Kay, dead or alive…

But that wasn't what was important: for today was September 1st, which meant that it was his _birthday_! Rushing out of his bedroom, he grabbed the apartment video-phone and called home.

"Hey mom, it's me, Ash!"

It was just the phone, without the video. Delia's voice: "Hi honey, so you decided to call back at last! I was getting so worried about you, all out there alone…"

"Mom, are you forgetting something!?"

"Huh? OH YES!! It's your BIRTHDAY!!--"

"Hooray!" joined in Ash.

"Too bad you couldn't be here to celebrate…"

"Well, I'm busy finding out as much as I can about my sister Kay's whereabouts, and I have been learning pokemon tactics so that I will be prepared for when I go face to face with Team Rocket again, so haven't had the luxury of coming back home. I promise, once I find her, I'll get back, and leave the pokemon training to others! I'll never leave Pallet to go adventuring ever again!"

"Well, have you got any leads yet?"

"Err… Not really, Kay seems to have vanished into thin air… But tell you what, I've discovered an ability to sense the thoughts of others around me, so if there's anything people aren't telling me, I'll still find out! Don't you worry, mom!" Ash said in an upbeat tone.

"Umm… Ash…" said Delia a bit solemnly. "How good is that ability?"

"Don't you remember? What happened when I left?" he asked. _Did Delia already forget how he had used his telepathic powers to put her in such a terrible fright?_

"Oh yeah, you talked to me telepathically… I remember that frightful experience… It was like.. Well, it's indescribable, really…"

"Yeah, and I had told you that I would find my sister Kay no matter what, and that I wouldn't come back until after I had found her!" Ash then mentally hit himself. _No, what I meant to say was that I had told you that I was ready to go look for Kay and wasn't your baby anymore… Instead, I said some stuff about not returning until I had found Kay… something that I had vowed only after the tournament here at Saffron…_

"I remember that all too clearly," replied Delia, oblivious to the white lie Ash had just said.

Which, of course, got Ash very suspicious. "Delia--??"

"What, darling?"

"Why haven't you asked yet if I change my underwear every day?" asked Ash solemnly.

There was a sigh on the other end of the line. "I think it's time you were let in on the secret," Delia replied. The computer suddenly displayed the video of the person on the phone.

"Officer Jenny!?" Indeed, it wasn't Delia on the phone. It was the town sheriff, with a voice-mutating device in front of her mouth. Her words sounded like Delia's. "What's going on!?" screamed Ash, shocked and dismayed.

"Ever since Kay disappeared, I've worked with your mother Ms. Ketchum to arrange for ways in which we could somehow trick Team Rocket into getting Kay returned. This was one way, by me speaking in place of Delia. Our plan was to trick Team Rocket operatives into returning to abduct your mother – since it was obvious to us that they would do such a thing to silence Kay's disappearance and discourage you – and then defeat them in battle – since it was also obvious that Kay would have to come along if they wanted to be successful. That's why it was set on phone only earlier."

"Well then, since I'm obviously Ash, let me speak to my mom and stop embarrassing me!"

Officer Jenny sighed really hard this time. "I'm sorry, I can't do that."

"WHY NOT!?"

"Because five days ago Team Rocket abducted her."

All that could go through Ash's mind was total shock. _My mother gone too! As if Kay wasn't enough for me to lose! Those Team Rocket bastards, they are going to get it from me!_

"The good news is that based on our reasoning your mother must be alive and somewhere safe," said Officer Jenny, trying to placate him. It didn't work.

"You've been keeping all this a secret from me WHY!?"

"It'll do you no good to know this…"

"YOU!!" Ash shouted, and the police officer flinched.

"The bad news is—"

"Wait there's MORE BAD NEWS!?" Ash's mind wanted to protest.

Officer Jenny hung her head. "The bad news is that Team Rocket is probably using her as a hostage to prevent you from attempting to rescue Kay whenever you do locate her."

Ash hung up the phone in fury. He was desolate, despondent, angry, shocked, dismayed, hurt, terrified, and grieving all at the same time. _How could my luck have fallen even lower? _Wondered Ash.

He stood up and faced the window, shooting a death glare at no one in particular. "TEAM ROCKET!! GIVE ME MY MOM BACK!!"

...

...

**A/N: This is end of Part I. Please tell me how I'm doing by rating and reviewing!**


	16. To Be A Trainer

**Part II: Challenger**

**The Quest 16: To Be a Trainer**

P.J. was humming a merry tune whilst walking with his Ursaring from Celadon to Saffron when all of a sudden he spotted a strange scene. A meter-and-a-half-tall, nearly round Cloyster, all alone in the middle of a forest! Shell pokemon almost never lived outside of the sea… "Well, Ursaring, this is strange indeed… I wonder if it's a trap…"

"Me too," said the bear pokemon, "but even if it is, we can try capturing it from here! And it'll be easy if it happens to be asleep… You never know."

P.J. took out an unassigned pokeball. "He goes nothing," he muttered, looking at the prominent, unmoving pokemon. "Go and get it!" He tossed the pokeball straight at the Cloyster.

It suddenly opened its crease, revealing a trainer huddled inside and stifling a laugh. The pokeball touched his skin and flared out red, but the light did nothing on a human like this trainer. Immediately he caught the pokeball thrown his way, pocketed it, and jumped out into the sunlight, taking P.J. and his Ursaring completely by surprise.

It was Ash! And with a single glance at the Ursaring he remembered how Gary had defeated P.J. in the Saffron match earlier.

"Hey, you look familiar," said P.J., startled. He didn't have time to ponder who it was, though, because…

"Trainer! I challenge you to a fair match, now! Go Charmeleon!" Ash tossed out a pokeball, and the lizard-pokemon, now taller than the average adult, coalesced from the white light. "Fire Blast!" The next moment Ash had leapt backwards onto the waiting Cloyster (which had closed its shell) and the Charmeleon had jumped too. Only the latter blasted a torrent of fire directly downward, spreading out in every direction in an expanding circle.

"Ah! Ursaring, Hammer Arm!" The Ursaring leapt at the Charmeleon, forcefully and painfully bringing them both back to the ground just as the fire was spreading outward. The Ursaring's fur instantly caught fire, and began the now-typical procedure of stop, drop, and roll, while the fires seemed to have no effect on the Charmeleon.

P.J. screamed, "Who do you think you are, calling for a match right here!? Do you even have the potions we'd need afterward?" he asked, tossing a second pokeball into the air that released a Poliwrath. This was a rather large, blue-skinned fighting pokemon with white whirl marks on its body.

"Cloyster, spike cannon!" Ash shouted to his Cloyster, which shot out a single, massive spike from its shell. It struck with pinpoint accuracy at the Ursaring, right on its nape, breaking its spinal cord. "Don't worry, I have regeneration potions for you too! Now let's finish this match! Charmeleon, fury swipes!"

"Charmeleon is weak to water! Poliwrath, water gun!" The center of the whirl suddenly shot out a powerful stream of water. The Charmeleon stopped to take its morning shower, letting the tail flame steam, before continuing its attack unperturbed. It sent the Poliwrath flying into a tree after it had inflicted numerous slashing marks all over the pokemon. It was out cold.

"That's it, this is outrage! Go—um, never mind, you win," said P.J., changing his mind at the last moment. "Now get out those potions, you challenge me, you supply the potions," he stated the typical trainers' proverb.

As Ash sprayed some potion (stored inside the Cloyster) on the Ursaring (causing the broken spinal cord to mend together), he knew something wasn't right with how that last statement sounded, so he peered into the other trainer's mind. _I really want to win this match, but I know I can't reveal my other two pokemon… I only have four, two are down, one's a Wailord (a whale-pokemon) and it's too bulky not to mention in the wrong environment for me to summon it, and the other is my secret weapon Dragonite…_

Ash snickered. Obviously that secret weapon was not secret any more, and he was going to test P.J.'s resolve. "I know from what you just said that you have at least one more pokemon, P.J. Now, out with it!" The Kirlia that had been sitting on Ash's shoulder jumped off and growled menacingly (more so than Ash would have otherwise expected from such a cute thing if he hadn't had much experience with Kirlia before).

"No, I don't want to continue this match, you're too good," P.J. stated, half-truth and half-lie. It was obviously not the real reason why he didn't want to play his trump card… But for Ash, he needed to know what trump card pokemon _anyone _in the world could throw his way, which meant that he would have to challenge P.J.'s Dragonite as well.

"Yeah right, that may have tricked everyone else in the world, but I know you have a Dragonite, so let's see it!"

P.J. could barely hold in his astonishment. _How did this person know?! When have I ever let that leak out? He must just be saying something random and it happened to be on mark, because Dragonite is quite a semi-legendary pokemon anyway… But I'll tell him about my Wailord._ "I can't put my third pokemon into the match because it's a Wailord, so tell me how it'll fit in the forest!" he shouted with mock indignation.

"I see four poke-balls on your belt."

"Bad call, the fourth is empty…"

"It's empty, eh?"

"Yeah, it is."

"I too have an empty pokeball – the one you threw at me – as well as one of my own. I'll trade them both for your fourth pokeball, the _empty _one. That's _clearly _a rip-off deal in your favor. How does that sound?" Ash snickered, but didn't let it show.

And predictably, P.J. was unwilling, and muttered something under his breath. There was no way he was just going to _give away _his Dragonite…

_Damn, he knows… he's not joking with that… Or is he just trying to psych me into playing my fourth pokemon, and he doesn't know what it is? I could of course just not answer him…_

"Here, let's do this trade of yours, you're the one getting ripped off," said P.J., but his worried expression belied his anxiety. The hope that Ash would back down before he had to was written on its face.

"All right then, here's my two pokeballs," said Ash, extending them out as P.J. did.

Just as Ash was about to put his other hand over the pokeball containing the Dragonite, however, P.J. backed off. "Oh, I almost forgot, I have to get to Saffron City right away, it's urgent. I don't have time for this trade."

"BS," said Ash. "Here, this'll just take two seconds…" he stepped forward to reach for the coveted pokeball.

"No! I'll NOT give this pokeball to you!"

"Why, are you scared? Because you'll reveal your Dragonite, your secret weapon? Just how much of a secret is it, that I know this?" Ash taunted.

"If you value your life, you'll keep your mouth shut and not talk about my pokemon ever again in public," warned P.J., nearly shaking with worry as he recalled his treated pokemon.

"Oh? With what? Your pokemon are all unable to help you at this point!" the next moment Ash knew exactly what P.J. was going to use, and it wasn't going to be just the Dragonite. He rushed back into Cloyster's shell, recalling his Charmeleon and Kirlia at the same time.

A split second later a massive blue form materialized in the sky above them, some hundred feet long. The massive whale smashed into the forest, snapping trees underneath its several thousand pounds like it was nothing. Then it proceeded to flop about helplessly the way fish do on dry land.

P. J. only narrowly missed being squished under its enormity, taking flight over the opaque forest canopy on his Dragonite, brown-scaled, incredibly large flying pokemon. "All right Wailord, you did your stuff. Return!" A massive field of red light enveloped the entire pokemon and it disappeared into P.J.'s pokeball.

Unlike everything else in the flattened woods surrounding them, Cloyster had taken the pressure very nicely, as had Ash, within its incredibly thick, protective shell. "So you reveal your true form at last," Ash said exultantly, half to P.J. and half to the Dragonite. With his psychic abilities, and his exposure to the Snorlax Squash tactic, the Wailord-dropping never posed a threat to him. "Unfortunately for you—"

He ducked out of the way as Dragonite released its Hyper-Beam – an incredibly powerful and thick streak of reddish-gold light that rippled through the Cloyster, disintegrating the part of its shell it came in contact with, then burning through its black body.

_Oh shit,_ thought Ash. "Return, Cloyster! Go Kirlia, and get us out of here!" On orders from P.J, the Dragonite had fired a deadly sonic shockwave in their direction, but it only upturned the soil and shattered the bark from the already fallen trees.

Ash and his pokemon were nowhere in sight.

"Damn it!" shouted P.J. Now there was someone in the world who knew about the fact that he rode the world's only Dragonite…

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Ash had been teleported the short distance to Saffron City's poke-Center. Nearby the Gym was almost completely empty, occupied only by idiots who believed that they could challenge an Alakazam and its psychic trainer. He ran into the poke-Center immediately, shouting, "Nurse Joy!"

The nurse, in her pink nurse's outfit, turned around with a startled look. "This an emergency?"

"I need Cloyster treated ASAP!" he shouted, grabbing a treatment contract and scribbling his signature on it. Immediately Nurse Joy took the pokeball out of his hands and sank it into the 'potion tank', the tank filled with potion medicines of all sorts into which pokeballs were sunk to indirectly treat the pokemon inside. Beside the computer, a string of green lights began to light up.

A minute later, as Ash continued to stand worriedly beside the counter, Nurse Joy turned to him with a smile. "Thanks to the quick rescue by your Kirlia, your Cloyster is now back to normal. It's now maturity level 55."

That was nothing new; it had been on level 54 all the two previous weeks. Ash thanked her, then began his daily trek through Saffron City. As always, he struck out into an unexplored part of the neighborhood, screening the minds of everyone he passed by for any hints to either Kay's or Delia's whereabouts. He figured that _somebody_ in town ought to know about what happened to her, since Team Rocket was a particularly large organization.

But instead of learning about the information he really wanted to know, he learned a lot of other things – things that may perhaps be useful, things that were trivial, such as gossiping, things that were disagreeable to him, things that may even be flat-out wrong…

He had located a few Team Rocket operatives in the city, but that was primarily because they didn't do much pokemon-stealing, which, after all, is hard to do in public. Those that he had found didn't know a whit about where headquarters or supply depots were, and the tiered structure of Team Rocket's organization was proving to be a big bane for him. Sometimes he didn't know if it would even be fruitful to continue probing peoples' minds in this way. Persistence and patience would have a limit.

Yet he had kept it up, day after day, for nearly eight months now. September, October, November… He had stayed, alternating between days in the city and nights in the forest right outside (sleeping in along with the Cloyster so that he could save money that would otherwise need to be spent on lodging). He had stayed in the same general vicinity all this time. Winter was a long time ago, Spring had passed. Gym-leader-replacement tournaments had come and gone in six of the ten gyms whose charters called for such tournaments. And now it was April 15th.

Determination had proven to be far more an important driving factor than persistence, excitement, enthusiasm, or even a 'personal calling' could be. And Ash had kept the day very regimented, with the mornings set aside for combing through the streets of the city and buying pokemon food. He scanned roughly a thousand strange, individual minds every day, most of which were different from those he had scanned in previous days. He had walked through entire neighborhoods, and done so much walking that his feet and legs were entirely jaded to the task. He could spend all day walking and not find any reason to complain. Yet after eight months he had scanned only 240,000 individuals, and had covered only a twelfth of the city's population of nearly four million. And none of them knew where he could find Kay or Delia.

Ordinarily, confronted with such bad luck Ash would have decided to move on. After all, if Kay and Delia weren't being kept anywhere near Saffron City those hours he spent searching for information regarding them would be a total waste of time. But he also knew, as he did when he first set out to search for his sister, that this would be no easy task. He would have to confront the objective with a multi-pronged attack plan calling for learning as much as possible about Team Rocket, understanding as well as he could pokemon battle tactics, and applying what he learned to how he trained his pokemon. And he had done just that. Though it was painful progress, and perhaps not all that useful in any case, he decided to teach them anything he thought could potentially be useful, which meant going to the library with his pokemon out to have them all read about other pokemon and their trademark as well as unconventional moves. But there were just too many, far too many to learn them all and practice counters against them all, so Ash had to stick with the more basic counters. He had gone to Sabrina's Gym during non-challenge hours to have them get into physical shape, whether it be endurance or agility or reflexes. He had planned out battle strategies involving his pokemon, and taught them what they should do as a part of each strategy. He had, when they were in the forest, set up simulations for possible commands given by other pokemon and other trainers, and proceeded to discuss the merits of each counter at their disposal. Though he only had three pokemon, he was sure that they were all ready to take on the more common opponents, especially those he had watched perform in the Saffron tournament almost one year earlier. Compared to when he first had obtained the allegiance of his Cloyster, his pokemon were now larger, stronger, tougher, more agile, more knowledgeable, and more mutually understanding than they had been.

And more mature.

He knew very well (as did perhaps every other trainer in the world) that pokemon only really gained maturity through real-life experience and not through academic practice routines. He knew that his pokemon were gaining their levels painstakingly slowly since they were effectively doing similar things every day now. He knew that they were practicing battle tactics against imaginary foes who couldn't think and couldn't come up with anything unexpected. And some abilities, like Charmeleon's Rage, were simply impossible to conjure up against a nonexistent enemy. He knew that gaining maturity became exponentially harder, so that it took significantly more effort to get from level 40 to level 50 than it took to get through all the levels before. When he first started out on his journey Gary's Eevee had gone up three levels in under a minute; his Charmander had advanced four levels in two days. But, though he was training just as hard now, none of his pokemon had been registered as having gone up a level in nearly two weeks. The further they rose on the maturity scale, the closer their levels were to each other, from an initial nine levels apart to only two. And of course, the further one went with training the more the desire to give up or lessen its intensity. Despite all his goading them and his own determination, the fact that they hadn't had an actual battle against a real adversary in all that time seriously cut down on the team's enthusiasm.

And yet, his pokemon still had gone up to, last he checked, Charmeleon, lvl. 57; Kirlia, lvl. 57; and now his Cloyster, lvl. 55. In a very short period of time his trio had become quite a bit more mature than the average trained pokemon was (lvl. 50).

Ash himself had gone up a few inches.

Oh, he had trained his pokemon to be more capable, taught them a lot of spells, too, perhaps at the expense of his own psychic preparedness…

Flashback

"All right," said Ash to the trio of pokemon assembled before him in a forest clearing, "Today we're going to practice battling against a Raichu. I want to see how you each handle that challenge, without giving you time to think it through. In real battle you will probably only have a second or two to prep, and maybe not be able to help each other. Let's start with you, Charmeleon; show me what you got!"

Charmeleon said to an imaginary Raichu, "hey, Rai buddy, look that way, it's kind of interesting," before quickly following up with a sucker punch and series of furious slashes that seemed almost as fast as a Raichu could possibly respond. Then it followed up with a body slam while simultaneously firing a yellow-hot flamethrower out its mouth. The combination meant that the jet of fire would move with a far greater velocity than would otherwise be achieved. Even if the Charmeleon had been struck with lightning (which Ash thought was definitely possible), this attack would have put out the Raichu in a hurry. It had taken all but two seconds.

"All right, that's a well-executed feint attack, a swift fury swipes, and a neat slam-thrower combo move! Though I was expecting even faster if you want to beat that Raichu before it shocks you," concluded Ash. "I would like to see you practice that move over and over again until you can get it under… 0.9 seconds," said Ash with a smile. "Okay, Cloyster… you next!"

While Charmeleon began to repeat its short performance, Cloyster immediately spun rapidly around and around without leaving its spot until it was half-submerged in dirt, then fired a nonstop barrage of sharpened spikes at each of ten targets set up some fifty meters away. All hit bull's-eye.

"Impeccable archery, Cloyster! And starting off with a stunning rapid-spin would put off that Raichu. And you were in effect drilling into the ground, using it as a ground (no pun intended) to sap any electric attacks that Raichu may be powering up! Though it may be even better if you distracted the Raichu by preceding your digging with a few spike shots off to each side… Practice that too now. And now let's see what you have, Kirlia."

Suddenly something mental struck him, leaving him a garbled, disorderly rambler whose only coherent statement was, "Return, Raichu! I forfeit this match!"

End Flashback


	17. Sylphs and Demons

**The Quest 17: Sylphs and Demons**

_It was another boring day after all,_ thought Ash after he had finished making his rounds through yet another neighborhood, thus completing this suburb. It was boring in that he still didn't make inroads toward finding his sister Kay – but by any other perspective it was not boring at all.

For this time he had accidentally (?) stumbled upon a plot-in-the-making by Team Rocket operatives to steal the data from Saffron City's largest company, Silph Co. Developer of the original Poke-Ball, for which its thirty-year patent had long since expired (making it trillions of Kanto Dollars in the process), further developer of the great-ball and thereafter the ultra-ball. Although all the secrets to the great-ball and ultra-ball had long since been hacked and leaked out – the fact that Team Rocket used nothing but loads of ultra-balls and had an interminable supply of them being case in point – the patent to the great-ball still had two years to go, and that for the ultra-ball another decade and a half of life remaining. Even though there were generics that were slightly cheaper than the brand-name counterparts Silph Co. had still been happily manufacturing and marketing (and making money on) on the store shelves world-wide, those weren't what drove the company's stock (SYLF) nowadays.

No; everyone knew that Silph Co. had been for years now been working on developing the next _best thing_.

The so-called Master Ball.

The developers had planned it to be a poke-ball that could catch any pokemon, beyond which no design improvements would be possible – 'the ball to end all balls', so to speak.

Problem was, it was still in the developmental alpha stage, and people didn't know if it was bound to work or not. But it was getting close – _that _was obvious, by the reports that company public relations officers had been telling journalists. And as a pokemon trainer, Ash of course followed the daily news for the incredibly cheap price of 0.75 a paper.

_Too _close. And what made it worse – or perhaps better – was that because of certain developmental and – yes – even ethical concerns, the patent request hadn't been put through. Which meant that Silph Co. was now in the precarious position of having to guard a technology potentially worth many billions of dollars and untold fame for the company's new CEO, Dr. Marc Cash, MBA.

So bad (or good) that it was now the first on the list of targets for Team Rocket's espionage (note, not _burglary_, but similar) division. So big of an issue, that Ash had been able to stumble upon a discussion about it on accident, listening via their minds through an otherwise soundproof wall.

It went like this:

Flashback

"Is everything ready now?"

"All in place, sir."

"Good. Then our part of the mission will go ahead as planned." _They at Silph Co. won't know what hit them._

"The problem is that there will be a period of time during which everyone will be alert about a break-in at the company and before the Team can know whether or not the spreadsheets and data analyses what we plan to steal are all we need for successfully recreating a master ball. I'm just worried that the police may see through our plans for our puppet company before we have established ourselves."

"Me too. It's good to worry. That way we'll be even more careful about it all."

"I'm just even more worried about the prospect that the company could have moved some of their critical documents to yet another location. It takes at least 99.99 of the total data to be in our hands before we can recreate the master ball – at least, without having a team of a hundred researchers and programmers sitting day and night to reconstruct the missing data before Silph Co. itself finishes what it must do. Though with what we've all put into this project, it seems unlikely that our spies haven't kept track of all the separate nodes of data…"

"Aye, sources tell me that Silph Co. is only a week or two away from submitting the revised form of their patent request form. Heard that this one will have a rock-solid argument that ethicists won't be able to break down. I don't know what philosophers they have working for them, but if they have hundreds of billions on the line I don't doubt that they will have the best possible assembly of bright think tanks churning out ideas for them."

"Yeah, I certainly don't think they will fail this time. So we got to make this work, or else the boss may become so disgruntled he fires the entire espionage department. Let me see if I have anything else worth bothering you…" _Hmm… today's the 15__th__, eh? That means the infiltration is still eight days away. _"I think that's all."

"Well then, you're dismissed. You may always report to me when you feel there's any reason to do so, pal."

End Flashback

The first thing Ash thought of after hearing this, was that this was Team Rocket's stuff he was just privy to and so he had to do something against his eternal (?) foe. The second thought was that he, being just a single trainer with three pokemon who hadn't had real battle experience for months now (with a few exceptions, P.J.'s being the most notable), probably would only end up killing themselves attempting to intercept Team Rocket's plans and not foil them at all. The third thing he thought was that if he couldn't stop Team Rocket's operation, then maybe he could tell Silph Co. to separate the data some more so that critical parts of it wouldn't fall into Team Rocket's hands. The fourth? No one would believe him and, even if they did, wouldn't they already have done a brilliant job? As if Ash would know better than they did how to keep their company secrets… secret…

And yet, Team Rocket did seem up to something… From what Ash could tell using his psychic abilities, the two were pretty darn sure of themselves and their ability to uncover _every single thing necessary_, and this coming from two individuals who seemed more often than not to worry about whether their plan would work. And as Ash and those Team Rocket operatives both knew very well, those who worried about success were much more likely to succeed than those who simply thought everything would work out on its own.

So, based on his thoughts, there wasn't much anything he could do to change the outcome. It would either succeed, or fail. And from Team Rocket's record of their ability to handle matters, they weren't too shabby. Of course, they failed both times in attempting to steal pokemon right from under Sabrina's nose, but that was first because she was a psychic, and second because they went in open confrontation against hundreds of trainers. No wonder they lost. But from Ash's personal experience… He had been abducted by them, as had Lily. The trap they had set for him with the fake Metapod alarm was well thought through. Even though Gary managed to locate and rescue him, Lily, and the six girls who now kept following him, and though he managed to get six out of the seven Team Rocket teams arrested, there were surely a few whom Gary hadn't caught. And he only succeeded because his Ralts happened to be an emotion pokemon. Then they had proceeded to abduct Kay, capturing the psychic Mr. Mime in the process, which meant they knew how to win a fight against psychic pokemon… And he couldn't forget how the entire might of the Pallet Town police couldn't stop them from taking Delia away as well…_ Now's not the time to burst into tears…_ Team Rocket would more than likely succeed on this venture.

Which, suddenly brought Ash to another line of reasoning.

During the past few months, peering into the minds of so many money-oriented adults meant one thing for sure: he was now quite knowledgeable in economics and finance. He was of the opinion that he knew all he needed to know about common and privileged stock, corporate and municipal bonds, commodities and derivatives, you name it…

And in modern finance, portfolio theory indicated that if the prospects of a company were to suddenly change, it didn't matter what people may have thought about it before; only the fundamentals mattered. And as he had just learned about this ahead of just about everyone else, he would have the opportunity to take advantage of his advance information. It may be wrongful; it may be insider information; but it wasn't as if he was conspiring to do anything wrongful alongside Team Rocket. They hadn't 'told' him that this was going to happen; and Ash would still be a speculator because he couldn't be sure if it would actually succeed.

But the odds were clearly in his favor. And if he couldn't take advantage of improved odds with his psychic ability in the casino, was he to simply squander it?? Of course not!

And, even more importantly, he had a family to rescue. And how could he do it without good, able pokemon? Were three enough? He could use the money to buy the digital pokemon Porygon if he had to; those things could be programmed in with the capability to use a wide variety of battle tactics the likes of which he didn't feel like teaching to a fourth pokemon from scratch, but they were also prohibitively expensive.

No matter what one thought to the contrary, money was important.

So he was going to get some.

_It's now evening, and that means the Goldenrod Stock Exchange would close in… closed two hours ago… no, that can't be right, the city's two time zones behind us, which means I still have what, fifteen minutes to get a deal brokered? _An idea was already forming in his mind as to what security he would be getting with his money as he proceeded to run in the direction of the nearest broker's office. It would not do to buy stock in SYLF right now, since he was predicting that the stock would plummet soon. So instead he would go short on the stock, which meant selling a contract to someone that he would give him/her shares of that stock later on. The more the value of SYLF stock fell, the more he would make from the difference in the two prices. And the more he put at risk making the deal, the greater the returns.

As he ran, he estimated what he could afford to expend. He had been living inside Cloyster's extra shell space for months on end now, never having to enter into a proper lodging. So that thirty percent of peoples' average income didn't matter to him. He didn't rely on vehicle transportation for anything, the way Gary was wont to do, so that was another fifteen percent gone. He was using telekinesis to literally shoot his breakfast, lunch, and dinner out of the sky and picking them out of the bushes, so there was another fifteen percent he didn't have to worry about. He didn't really have much _any_ expenditures to worry about, in fact; he had no debts to pay off, no education expenses, and, because he didn't have any true source of income, no taxes to pay.

So he could gamble all of his money on this one thing. And what had been only a meager 10,000.00 after his casino debacle had slowly grown in an index fund to 10,650.00 – a 10 return since the year wasn't out yet.

And on top of that he had mailed applications to twenty different credit card companies shortly after his fourteenth birthday, of which two had granted him a credit line with a 5,000.00 limit (a meager sum) with an APR of a whopping 45 (after all, he was but a kid and his mother had vanished and his father had deceased _long _ago). Even though he had the money in his debit card, he still charged all expenses to his two credit cards, and then _paid them off _the next day so that he always had a 0.00 account balance.

But now, nearly a year later, his credit history was starting to show. Each of those two credit cards how had a maximum of 20,000.00, and their APR had fallen to 30. Just a month ago he had applied to another ten credit card companies and received ten approvals in response, each with the same maximum as his first two cards.

So he walked into the brokerage with 10,650.00 in personal assets and 240,000.00 in credit, and felt like a rich man. Of course he wasn't, because if he used all that credit and he came out on the losing end, he would be in the red, he would have to sue for Chapter 7 and _that _would be debilitating. And because he was going short not _long _(the norm), his potential losses were _unlimited. _If SYLF went up to a million dollars a share he would be _screwed._

But he didn't think that would happen. After all, once Team Rocket struck, there didn't seem to be any reason why the stock could possibly _rise_.

The brokerage was a rather small office, but pleasant with nice, homely adornments. It was evidently a partnership. Ash looked at the ticker and saw prices of various companies' stocks updating; then saw a sign that read 'each transaction 100.00.' It was a three-figure sum but it cost only half as much as a generic pokeball which meant that it was pretty darn cheap. Though if Ash only traded with his personal assets, two transactions was two percent of his money, on which he earned under 10 yearly.

"What may I do for you young man?" asked the broker, looking up at Ash through his glasses.

"How much is a share of SYLF right now?"

The broker seemed to have the number memorized; this after all is an industry giant we're talking about. "2,500.00 each. How many would you like to buy?"

"Actually, I want to go short on SYLF. I only have ten grand, but I have a considerable amount of credit that I can work with…"

"Great, well if you're going short you'll need to put down a five-percent margin into an account registered in your name. All you have to do is fill out this form," said the broker, pushing forward a sheet of paper. Ash took out a pen and within a minute had it filled. Trading short wasn't like trading long; one didn't simply put in what one had. Instead, one _earned _money to begin with, then paid for it later. But then you had better be able to pay up.

A five-percent margin meant that with his 10,650.00 (he didn't want to put too much credit at risk because trading on the margin was normally a _massive _risk by itself), he could trade 201,300.00 worth of stock.

The broker looked at it and repeated the important parts of it. "Short eighty shares of SYLF, to be paid before nine days, total 200,000.00. Is that what you want?" If SYLF went bankrupt, Ash would earn his 200,000.00. But it wouldn't. If shares doubled in value, he would have to come up with the 200,000.00 difference by working, which for an entry-level worker like him may take eight to ten months of hard labor.

What was the broker thinking? _This isn't a lot of money compared to the millions my other clients shove around day-trading, but he's only a boy after all…_

"Yes," affirmed Ash. The broker had the transaction processed in mere seconds. Suddenly Ash's debit card was 190,000.00 Kanto dollars _heavier_. At least, that's what it looked like on the computer screen. He hadn't made _any_ money yet. Not until Team Rocket broke in and put everyone in a panic…

As Ash walked out of the brokerage, he turned to the Kirlia on his shoulder. It was sleeping. Even psychic pokemon were not really any good at predicting the future, which was what made the stock market run, but they brought psychology to a whole new level. There was a reason why psychic pokemon were common on the other side of the proverbial Chinese Wall – no investment banker wanted a merger and acquisition secret leaked out early by a psychic pokemon on _this_ side of the wall.

Ash now pondered the next step. Once Team Rocket struck, as they surely will, the price would surely come down, even if just from the panic. But then Ash certainly didn't want Team Rocket of all people to be the first to, under a fictitious business name, patent the master ball technology. That would be bad.

Real bad.

It seemed like the pair he had overheard was instrumental in the operation. If he could prevent them from carrying out their part, it might just be enough to ruin Team Rocket's aspirations. He smiled to himself. Woe to whomever was the syndicate's enigmatic boss when he found out that his brilliant plan had been thwarted by someone with a grudge against his organization who had been relentlessly combing the city day after day looking for a slip. That was bound to make the boss have second thoughts.

And now, back to training, thought Ash perhaps a bit despondently at the prospect of spending the evening training with his pokemon after that noon match with P.J. It was nice to know that his pokemon had taken care of the Ursaring and the Poliwrath without any trouble. But the other two pokemon the trainer had… Heck, he still hadn't come up with any plan or counter against the Hyper Beam. He knew that it was supposed to be an immensely powerful disintegrative attack, but just how good it was he hadn't known until just today. It meant something important, too.

It meant that after all that training, Ash _still_ had a long way to go.

Along the way to the outskirts of the city and the woods which he had made his dwelling, Ash picked up a newspaper (the Saffron Sundown). The front-line news item:

Brownouts Plague Lavender, Bird to Blame

May 15th – Reported by James Irving

**E**verything had been just fine in the rather backwater eastern seaboard Lavender town, still known prominently only as the location of the famed – and haunted – Pokemon Tower. That is, until this morning blackouts began to plague the entire town.

"We've never had such blackouts before in years," said one resident, commenting on how not only was this the first blackout in a long time, but also that there had never been even a brownout in the past ten years that had been so prolonged.

"This is really unusual, but we think there may be a pattern to what's been going on lately," said a spokesperson for an investigation team. "Although I believe others are already onto a rumor that's been circulating around."

That rumor is that Zapdos has made its new nest in the local power plant.

"Zapdos has long been one of the mascots of the eastern seaboard, primarily referring to the way the sun seems to suddenly bolt out of the blue," said one.

The flying bird is a legendary pokemon that is only rumored to exist.

But others disagree. "There are records of a trio of legendary birds with extraordinary powers," says one local.

The trio has indeed been referenced in a variety of texts and scrolls from past times, but those are neither dependable nor recent.

"We have no other indication that a legendary bird, not only Zapdos, but the other two as well, may even exist, much less actually be present along the coast," said pokemon expert Professor Bill. He operates his own lighthouse at Cerulean City, the northern fringe of the east coast, which he claims to be able to see rare pokemon with.

The other two pokemon he referred to were Moltres, bird of fire, and Articuno, bird of ice.

The trio of birds thus represents the prime elemental forces of the world as described in various religious texts dating back to the tenth century.

"So, it makes a lot of sense for the trio to actually exist. And Zapdos, being lightning-based, would very likely be dwelling in the Lavender town power plant," says a fanatic.

After all, it is the largest power plant on the mainland, supplying power to Lavender, Cerulean, and even the eastern parts of Saffron. Since the power has still been erratic at best, all three locales have had to rely on emergency generators for their hospitals and other critical facilities.

But is it likely that Zapdos actually exists in the power plant? For that we turn to the Lavender reporter.

"Well, we can't be sure whether or not this is actually happening, but all we know for sure is that _something _weird is going on there," she says.

Earlier today three separate groups of trainers, eager to catch such a fabled pokemon as Zapdos, went into the massive power plant to seek Zapdos's new roost.

Says the sheriff Officer Jenny, "We warned them not to go in, since obviously if Zapdos weren't there they would be wasting their time, and if it were actually there it would suddenly make the power plant too dangerous to visit."

Officer Jenny has since made the power plant off limits to all trainers. At the time of this report people are still being turned away from getting the opportunity to search for and capture Zapdos.

"It's just too dangerous!" exclaims Officer Jenny.

And to the three that had gone in earlier, this was very likely the case.

About an hour after the last group had gone in, none of them had come out. So Officer Jenny bravely lead a team of police officers into the power plant. They returned within a minute, bearing news that one of the group had been electrocuted on the first floor. Their team of ground pokemon were fatalities of the expedition as well.

The Lavender town police decided not to pursue the other two teams, fearing that it may already be too late.

"We don't want to put any more officers at risk," she says.

This would also mean that, unless the power plant mystery resolves of its own accord, the blackout would continue to plague the city

A final word on this topic? "I would suggest that no one get near the power plant for now, at least while the blackouts persist," warns Officer Jenny.

--

Ash looked to his side and saw that his Kirlia was reading it as well. "Think we should go for it?"

"You might as well go leap off a cliff," it admonished. _That thing is a killing machine._

Ash sighed. "I guess you're right. It'll have to wait for later. But come on, we have work to do!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\


	18. The Sylph Corporation

**The Quest 18: The Silph Corporation**

Eight days had passed. The speculation about Zapdos had long since become fifth-page news. It was now late in the evening, mere half an hour before the time he could expect Team Rocket to begin. Ash had spent the entire time training his telekinetic powers, including that of bending…

Flashback

"Okay everyone," said Ash while they were in an uninhabited part of the forest, "let's try a psychically coordinated attack once more."

((Charmander, flamethrower. Cloyster, shoot a spike into its path at the tree right there, so that it comes out all fiery and heated up. Kirlia, redirect the spike so that it shoots at the other tree right behind me.))

And that was exactly what happened. The teamwork was great. As Ash knew from reading back at the Viridian library and from practice with his pokemon, they were all able to hear what he was thinking, even if Charmeleon and Cloyster had no ability to reply telepathically, much less try to open up a channel of communication by themselves.

This was an incredibly important ability, realized Ash. For it gave him an immense advantage over his opponents. Even as his pokemon were in their pokeballs, he would be able to instruct them on their first action, without the opponent even having an inkling of what was going on. And then he could summon them out and they would immediately attack just the way he wanted them to…

Though the complicated commands were still quite off, like there was a lot of static interfering with the communication. It was going to still take some work…

"Great work! Now, let's do some final practice in preparation for defeating Team Rocket." The next moment Kirlia smiled, drilling into his mind and confusing him utterly for a short while. "Huh? What am I doing here? Was I doing something illegal? I forfeit!" said Ash abruptly, causing his pokemon to burst out into laughter.

Ash glared at them. "Whatever, do whatever training you want, or if you really want to, have a day off. I'm going to develop my own psychic abilities now." Staring intently at what he knew was a fifty-pound Kirlia, he willed it to slam into the tree behind it.

Nothing happened.

The Kirlia knew what he wanted to have happen, however, and was incredibly indignant. It set its arms akimbo and tramped off, making as much a thumping noise as it could with its light weight.

Ash turned to his silverware set and decided that maybe it would be better to start with the basics. Trying to use kinesis on something organic – such as most pokemon – would be an incredibly tough challenge for someone fated to reach no higher than – was it a lvl. 33, or 38? – Kadabra's psychic capacity. Surely conductive metals were easier to work with, and the steel in his silverware would make that very simple. He had already twisted a gun on-the-spot back at Celadon City, and this was a long time later.

In five seconds he had bent ten spoons. In five more seconds he had bent them all back again. Except now they all looked doubly bent, not un-bent, much like trying to fold a paper one way and then another. The crease was still there.

"Next," thought Ash. He figured that using a potion sprayer from afar would be rather useful. He set a bottle, with spray attached, onto the ground, and willed it upward. It rocked a bit, before flipping over, causing all his pokemon to laugh…

End Flashback

It was now getting very close to the time that Team Rocket would plan its infiltration of Silph Co. In the meantime Ash had already warned both the police and Silph Co. of his foreknowledge. So supposedly they both had taken actions to protect the company secrets. How well that would work, he would soon find out.

Because he was going to stage an infiltration into Silph Co. as well.

Silph Co. was located in Saffron City's tallest skyscraper, some two hundred stories tall, but it didn't operate on them all. The vast majority of the floors were leased out to other businesses. Which also meant that simply staging guards at the entrance to the building would accomplish nothing. So naturally, no guards stopped him from walking into the imposing behemoth.

The first floor was mostly empty, with an information desk, plenty of seats, booths for buying pokeballs at their standard price (now 206.99), and an immensely large pool in the middle, complete with a trio of variously shaped fountains. The floor was kept constantly in a state of impeccable cleanliness, so that he could see the stainless-steel wall surfaces reflected through the floor panels. A massive crystal chandelier and brilliant lights hung from the ceiling gave the room a very upbeat feeling; windows from all sides made it seem natural too; and red carpets and gold-plated plaques and decoration brought it regal glamour. There were very few customers. The entire first floor was made to be impressive, not useful, and businesspeople and researchers constantly used the dozen elevators scattered about the building to get from one place to another.

_First up, time to test the corporation's defense…_

"Hello there, may I be of service to you?" asked the receptionist sweetly as Ash approached the information desk.

"Ah yes, I would like to get a copy of the company's annual report to the shareholders," said Ash, appearing entirely confident of what he was doing.

The receptionist shot him suspicious eyes. "I'm sorry, but we don't have them available here."

"That's inconvenient," said Ash. "Well in that case I would like to go upstairs to the office of someone who _does_ have this information."

"Actually, you can't go up there," replied the receptionist hastily.

"And why is that?" queried Ash with a slight smile on his face.

_Because we've been having reports of trouble brewing, so I'm supposed to not let others know what's going on. The fewer strangers who get access to the Silph Co. floors near the top of the building, the better._ "You can't simply barge in and get the annual report, you know what I mean?" Ash kept himself from laughing at this pitiful attempt to say one thing and think another.

"Oh? And why can't I?"

"Because… because…"

"Let's just get this over with, or else you'll be wasting both of our time."

"Well, because I don't have the authority to give you a copy of the report," replied the receptionist at last.

"Ah, so now the truth comes out, you _can't_," muttered Ash smugly. "Then this won't have much to do with you. I demand to be brought over to someone in the company with the authority to do so."

"Pardon my asking, but like, who are you? Strangers can't simply burst in through the door and demand to know company information like this," the receptionist protested defensively.

"Excuse _me_, but I'm not just any stranger," said Ash as he held up a document. "I'm a shareholder. I'm an _owner _of this company. That makes me partly your _boss_. Now get me the information I want, or else some manager is going to get unhappy that simple matters weren't taken care of."

"Oh, all right," the receptionist gave in at last, and told the other one to take over for her. "I'll take you to the manager." She led the way to the nearest elevator, and they went in. "By the way, how many shares of our company do you own, that you are so eager to find out about our report?" Evidently Ash's youth was incredibly unimpressive.

"Just one," said Ash with a fake smile as he put his document back in his back-pack.

The receptionist just sighed, resigned to wasting her time doing such a pointless task. She clearly had no idea that while Ash had gone _long _on a single stock, he had gone _short_ on 50 of them. So the worse the report sounded, the better it was for Ash's wallet…

"But if you were so eager to find out about us, how come you didn't come in to ask about two months earlier, when I actually had that authority?" she asked pathetically. Ash didn't bother to answer; instead, he looked out the elevator window. The nearby buildings which occluded view of the rest of downtown were sinking right before his eyes. His ears hurt from the speed at which the elevator was moving. Outside, the tops of the other buildings were below him. Even further below, the cars and people were as ants and aphids.

"Here we are," said the receptionist, inserting her work badge, which doubled as a card key, into a slot on the elevator. The polished-steel doors opened, revealing two guards standing on either side, alert, with their guns at the ready. On their belts were pokeballs, holding those faithful allies which would be useful in any firefight. _Not too bad,_ thought Ash. _But I wonder how they would fare against a foe who can simply teleport throughout the building, sidestepping guard and lock alike…_

((Kirlia,)) he said to the psychic pokemon sitting on his shoulder, ((teleport us.))

Nothing happened.

((Kirlia did you hear me?))

((Of course I did. We can't teleport in this entire building.))

_Now this is more like it,_ thought Ash. _Now those Team Rocket people will be hard pressed to navigate this place and steal all the secrets…_ _But still, that puts me at a disadvantage too… If someone decides to catch me then I won't be able to get away…_

They entered one of the innumerable offices in the building. Due to good planning, it was small but felt spacious. At the desk, right beside computer, sat who must be the manager. "Sir, I've brought up a shareholder who wants a copy of our annual report," said the receptionist curtly.

The manager looked up from his duties. "Why, this is but a kid!" he exclaimed. _How rude, _thought Ash. _Even the receptionist didn't dare say that to my face… I'll see how his attitude is when Team Rocket's through… _Ash smiled wryly. "Ahem, excuse me. A stockholder is of course entitled to seeing our annual report," he stated as he rummaged though a drawer and quickly drew out a stack of documents with the cover 'letter from the president'.

"Ah yes, this is what I wanted to obtain, thank you," Ash said as he took the report. "Oh, and since I'm here, what's with all the precautions? Is there some risk going on?"

"Very good question," replied the manager, stalling for time to come up with a suitable answer. "We at Silph Co. are very wary about any chances competitors may have for stealing our company secrets. That's the same secrets that's going to make your share of the company shoot through the roof," he emphasized. "I'm sure you'll agree that the precautions are absolutely necessary for your own financial benefit. There is, however, no need for concerns. Nobody is going to be able to steal the company secrets, especially the Capstone Algorithm that is so critical to the development of the master ball… Everything is safe around here. Your money is safe with us."

_Yeah, right, _thought Ash wryly, in more ways than one. _Of course the public relations manager had better have a smooth tongue and be swift at convincing me of the safety of this company. But just how well protected is this secret? _He immediately opened a channel with the manager's mind, even as he continued speaking normally, "Ah yes, that answers one doubt that I have had…"

Suddenly an alarm right next to the manager went off. The blaring caused Ash to back out of the psychic connection, and the next moment the alarm was silent. The manager too was taken by surprise, but he evidently knew what the blaring meant. He turned to face Ash with a disappointed and unhappy expression. "I don't think prying into my mind is such a good idea, young man," he said, detaching a pokeball from his belt.

A Chimecho appeared, suspended in the air. An incredibly light pokemon, it was the form of a wind chime with a porcelain-like ball on the end. From his months of studies, he immediately knew this to be a psychic pokemon, and how Ash was a bit worried. "I… think I need to go to the restroom," he told both the manager and the receptionist, and dashed out of the room, but not before the Chimecho had entered his mind. Ash attempted to erect a psychic wall, but it was no contest; within a split second the Chimecho had broken it down with the mental equivalent of a battering ram, then proceeded to analyze his mind for any negative intentions, even as Ash kept increasing his distance from it by running for the nearest restroom. Finally the connection broke, as he rushed into the boy's restroom.

The guards posted further down the hallway took note and immediately rushed over, pokeball in the left hand and gun in the right. Meanwhile the Chimecho had floated over to them, making chime sounds all the way, before whispering to the guards (as Ash could still hear), "let the boy be. He can stay in here all night if he wants to. We have little to worry about him, and he may prove to be an asset. He is the one who let slip that Team Rocket is about to strike." The guards, upon hearing this, returned to their posts.

Ash sighed heavily. He was relieved that the guards weren't about to stick a gun at his forehead, yes, but he was also amazed that the Chimecho could so easily wring his secrets out of him. ((Kirlia, why hadn't you done anything to stop it?! _Could_ you have stopped it?)) asked Ash.

((The Chimecho's psychic potential is much weaker than mine. However I let her peer into your mind because it would make our task suddenly so much easier.))

((Yeah… You're right… Now what?))

((Now we wait the ten minutes until Silph Co. closes down.))

((I knew that…))

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

((Kirlia. You done drawing?))

Half an hour later, it was all silent and dark. The entire floor was closed for the night, as were the dozen-odd other floors right above and below this one that were also being used by Silph Co. Everyone had departed – everyone, that is, except for the guards. A few of them had finished their watch, and were replaced by others. But on the average the number of guards had nearly doubled from what it was during the day. Each of them had the card keys necessary for traversing from room to room.

Various walls had suddenly been lowered from the ceiling, making the halls into tiny rooms that could not be navigated. These walls had been taken from elsewhere on the adjacent floors, which meant that other rooms had been merged together into larger rooms. The elevator no longer stopped on the Silph Co. floors, even though they went to those below.

By implicit agreement, Ash and his team of pokemon were allowed to stay on the floor. They were trapped in the bathroom, even its doors having been put in lockdown.

The Chimecho from earlier had joined up with three others just for this floor. But then, this was a massive floor spanning nearly a city block both wide and long…

Ash had his Kirlia do all the hard work of using its psychic capability to learn what the precise layout of the floors were – and they had become a veritable maze. His notebook was now filled with lines representing walls, doors, and windows. And furthermore, he had discovered that they were on the 204th floor, the 206th being the top floor. Various computer nodes were spread across the various floors, each holding its own, critical component of the data necessary for constructing a master ball.

Ash was now passing passive psychic feelers through everyone's minds, low enough so that they would not set off the psychic klaxons (which had gone off several times earlier from his lack of ability). But it also meant that he couldn't peer into the guards' thoughts. Not that he had to. He just wanted to know which guards were stationed where, so that he would know when something had gone wrong. From an earlier attempt (which set off the alarum), he had learned that the guards had been told that keeping the secrets safe and stopping the espionage ranked higher than keeping the building unharmed, even the skyscraper's structural integrity--

Suddenly there was a shudder, and a muffled scream from somewhere distant. Guards began moving about, sliding their card keys through doors when necessary. The guard right outside the bathroom door was likewise about to depart, but then slid an extra card key under the door to Ash so he could participate without breaking down the bathroom door.

Ash muttered only two words to his team, and they all understood its consequences.

"They're here."


	19. Interception Atop Silph Co Part 1

**The Quest 19: Interception Atop Silph Co. Part 1  
**

Klaxons wailed throughout the building.

((I notice that several walls have been removed once again, and strings of doors are being opened and closed. Team Rocket operatives are seemingly everywhere, either hacking, fleeing from the guards, or actively engaging in battle against them,)) noted Kirlia. ((Most of them were undercover as the guards themselves.))

_This infiltration has gotten a lot of inroads… Oh well, even that won't be enough if I have a say in these matters…_

((Well then, let's go!)) Ash swiped the card key and swung open the bathroom door to find himself in an enclosed room of a hallway – much as he expected. "That way!" He called, pointing in the direction of a door that stood ajar. His Charmeleon and Cloyster followed as they went through the door, then the next…

((Sounds like fighting up ahead,)) mentioned Kirlia.

((Then let's skip it. A Rocket fighting a guard is a Rocket that can't be stealing things. I'm pretty sure that their plan is to keep the guards pinned down at several key locations – they probably have the entire place mapped out – and then have their other agents do the hacking. Remember, it only takes uploading files onto the Internet for secrets to be revealed.))

Immediately the team dashed down the hallway. The Cloyster, too large and round to fit through the doorways, stayed inside his pokeball. Ash as knew very well, they were in a race against time to shut down as many Team Rocket operatives as they could and prevent them from getting to what mattered.

((There! I can sense a member of Team Rocket right that way.))

((No,)) said a Chimecho floating overhead.

Ash looked up. ((What are you doing here?))

((That's no ordinary Team Rocket operative over there. Although most of the espionage workers are grunts, that's Agent 007 right there. I suggest you don't take them on. We don't want you to get hurt.))

((Baloney! I don't have time for this!)) said Ash proudly as he dashed into the next room, and the next, swiping the card keys as he went through. Meanwhile, the Chimecho had rapidly floated off in the other direction, evidently afraid to join in the confrontation. Just as he was one wall away from where the Chimecho said (and Kirlia affirmed) the Team Rocket special agent was, the card key suddenly refused to work.

((Strange, I was sure that agent had come through this way,)) noted Kirlia.

((Then they must somehow have gotten access to the card key administrator's rights,)) realized Ash. ((This is bad. Come on, we have no time to waste!)) "Go Cloyster!" The large shell-pokemon materialized. Ash silently pointed to the wall, and the Cloyster obediently fired a barrage of spikes at it, quickly tearing down the wall panes holding it in place. The wood and plaster were blasted off quickly, but the girders remained, separating them.

He could see a stunned Team Rocket agent right through the opening, wearing the traditional black cloak. Suddenly a Gengar materialized. It was a ghost pokemon with the slight appearance of a fat person, and it stared at him with its red eyes and wide smile.

Agent 007 turned around and, without bothering to utter a single line from the motto, immediately fired bullets his way. Ash ducked behind a part of the wall that hadn't been obliterated, then backed away from that too as a Forretress bashed into it. The shell-covered, flying pokemon had taken down the wooden panels, and now flew into Ash's room between the metal girders.

"You've overstayed your welcome," said Agent 007 menacingly. Several more shots rang out in quick succession as Ash hurriedly sought a new safe location. The Gengar then swept right through him, delivering an intensely otherworldly and _chilly_ vibe that felt as if it could scar his soul. Holes appeared all over the far wall.

Ash turned to his Kirlia. "Barrier, now!" Obediently the psychic pokemon raised an invisible wall that replaced the part of the room that had been broken down. "Charmeleon, flamethrower through the barrier!" The Charmeleon fearlessly stepped up to the rubble remains of the wall. The Team Rocket agent fired another barrage of bullets directly at the Charmeleon, only to disintegrate into yellowish-cyan vortexes as they impacted the barrier. With perfect coordination, Kirlia temporarily removed the barrier, just long enough for Charmeleon to blast a torrent of high-powered flame through the gap, partially melting the steel. Cloyster joined in with a volley of spikes fired with the velocity of a cannon. Booms echoed through the adjoining rooms as the room that Agent 007 was in became filled with orange-hot spikes. They exploded on impact, scattering debris everywhere. The agent then countered with a Spiritomb. The swirling spirit immediately launched a dark pulse that rippled through the psychic barrier, shattering it, before continuing on to place the Charmeleon in sudden pain.

It would be wrong to say that Ash wasn't terribly frightened at this point. He was. But he was also definitely the determined sort by now – he had after all vowed to fight a war on Team Rocket – all by himself if need be – and what better idea to start doing just that than by fighting on home territory with many allies besides?

Yet all of a sudden his confrontation with this agent left him wondering if that was simply a really bad idea.

Ash and his team were pinned down in their room for several more minutes as the Gengar continued to distract him and his pokemon, to be joined in by the Spiritomb and its dark-type attacks. Charmeleon and Kirlia were both reduced to traumatized wreaks under the onslaught, and there was little that he or they could do to right the situation.

Agent 007 then suddenly dashed out of the room through another passageway (a wall had suddenly raised itself), and the two ghost pokemon he used swiftly followed. Ash was relieved that he had been spared this time, for he certainly did not know if he would be able to come out on top. But at least he was alive, and he spent the next minute administering potions to his ailed pokemon – opting to remove the sprayer altogether and simply dump the medicinal contents all over them.

"Darn, we were too slow," he said, mentally hitting himself on the head as he looked at the computer display. It read 'file uploaded successfully'. To the internet, of course. Which meant that that one particular piece of the company secrets was secret no more. The Agent had been in such a hurry that he evidently didn't care whether that message displayed on the computer. This node was hacked. "Come on, after him!" urged Ash, and Charmeleon followed. Kirlia sat atop his shoulder as they dashed from room to former hallway to room in maze-like fashion. In his rush the special agent hadn't cleared up his tracks. Which made sense, since probably the entire operation would only have a few minutes to clear.

"Darn, too bad for those guards," muttered Ash as he came into the next room where there had evidently been a hard-fought battle. Tables and machines were upturned, scattered glass was everywhere, and several walls had been dented in by what must have been rock or steel pokemon. There weren't any defeated Team Rocket members in the group. Sparing only a moment to spray a few excess potions on the guards to resuscitate them, he dashed off, eager to confront the agent once again.

((Okay, this time we need to have a better plan,)) said Ash to his pokemon telepathically. He didn't have the time.

"It's you again," cursed the agent whom he had fought earlier, turning to look at them, hands on his holster. "You are such a fool to be challenging me, kiddo." He pulled out the gun and pressed the trigger, taking Ash completely by surprise.

Click click click.

"Go Cloyster!" Ash said instinctively. The pokemon materialized right before him and his Charmeleon just as the agent pulled out his reserve pistol and shot in their direction. "Shoot away, double-ooh-seven," Ash taunted, even though he knew that Cloyster's shell was being chipped away by each hit.

Ash turned to his own telekinetic abilities and twisted the front part of the pistol upward. The agent gave one surprised look at the gun and tossed it away disgustedly, before tossing out a trio of pokeballs. They materialized into a Typhlosion, and the Gengar and Spiritomb from earlier.

"Uh-oh," muttered Ash as the first, a blue-and-white-skinned overgrown rodent, charged up the flames around its neck. It suddenly let loose a column of flame even larger than Ash's Charmeleon could have mustered. Cloyster knew better than to try to attack the pure-ghost Gengar, but fired at the partially vulnerable Spiritomb. Each spike went through the pokemon, rending it into parts, yet it soon recovered to its previous form and swooped down on Ash's Kirlia, dark sphere attack ready. Kirlia tried (and failed) to teleport them all to safety, and was immediately struck with a head-splitting sphere of conjured dark mental energies. It flopped over Ash's shoulder and onto the ground, comatose.

"No!" shouted Ash. He was of the mind to get out a potion, then realized that the two would attack him the next moment. The next moment the Typhlosion let out a massive explosion that sent them all crashing into the far wall, not to mention getting incredibly painful third-degree-burns across half of their bodies. Meanwhile the agent, not to be disturbed, sat at the computer, typing away at several hundred words a minute and loading the DOS, internet browser, and several of his own hacking programs simultaneously…

"Aargh!" Ash screamed in fear and pain as he attempted to get up. He stared at the Typhlosion right in its face – and it was mad. The Gengar and Spiritomb then materialized on either side of him, forming a formidable-looking, and as Ash knew, deadly trio.

((Heated smokescreen!)) Ash commanded, remembering an ability that Team Rocket had helped Charmeleon discover and which he had turned into a combo move. The Charmeleon immediately opened its mouth to spit out dense clouds of pitch-black soot, then followed up with a flamethrower that immediately raised the temperature of the smokescreen. Ash sweated profusely, but months of training were paying off – he didn't flinch at all from the intense heat, while the Gengar and Spiritomb, both of cool temperament, backed away uncertainly.

((All right Cloyster, finish off that Typhlosion with a Rollout!)) Since Ash had first seen this move being used back at the Saffron Tournament, he had learned that its real name was Rollout, and had perfected its technique to Cloyster. Cloyster immediately started spinning, rolling like a massive bowling ball toward a single pin. And because he had communicated this psychically, the enemy pokemon were in for a surprise…

The Cloyster bashed the Typhlosion on its skull, smashing it with such force that the Typhlosion was sent toppling backward, instantly dead (or near-dead by modern medical definitions) as rivers of red spilled forth from its head. The two ghost pokemon, who were just recovering from the smokescreen, were startled by the sudden fall of their ally.

Then Ash commanded, ((Explosive Spikes!)) Cloyster and Charmeleon teamed up with their Spike Cannon and Flamethrower attacks, respectively, to suddenly super-heat the spikes to the point that they exploded – right through the Spiritomb.

The incredible cacophony caused Agent 007 to turn his attention to the battlefield on the other side of the room, where Typhlosion lay dead. He hurriedly typed in the last few commands. Suddenly the data was being uploaded. "Return!" he shouted, and suddenly all three pokemon had vanished inside their pokeballs. The agent dashed out of the room, almost colliding into another Team Rocket member. This one, however, had been wearing the Silph Co. guard uniform as an undercover agent and so was clearly a grunt.

Upload 25 complete…

Ash meanwhile had managed to spray potion on all of his pokemon. Kirlia was very rapidly improving. ((All right now, destroy that computer before it can finish!)) Ash shouted. Cloyster and Charmeleon burst forth into the second part of the room, close to the computer, before they stopped in their tracks, warded off by the Rocket grunt's bullets.

Upload 50 complete… Time continued to pass by as the Cloyster and the grunt traded their deadly projectiles. ((Drat, if only I had Kirlia fully recovered,)) thought Ash. He attempted to simply bend the grunt's guns, and succeeded, but then out from a pokeball popped the grunt's Beedrill. The oversized hornet pokemon then replaced the grunt, launching pin missiles left and right, but mostly at the bend in the wall, pinning down Ash's pokemon.

Upload 75 complete… Nearly a minute had passed since the agent had dashed out of the room. His psychic mental field was registering about fifty Team Rocket operatives on the Silph Co. floor. Kirlia had recovered. ((Get me that gun,)) Ash ordered. Soon the bent gun that the agent had so carelessly discarded had levitated over to him. With a bit more mental effort he had bent it back into shape, and Kirlia removed the unnatural creases that were in it, so that it was brand as new.

Ash suddenly felt an upswelling of power from holding this weapon in his hands.

"Even your vaunted double-ooh agent couldn't stop me; you won't either," he said boldly.

But he couldn't let himself be carried away. "All right, Kirlia, Confusion!" This was the same ability that Ash knew Sabrina had used against the Team Rocket who had dared fight on her turf. Also an ability which he had honed in his Kirlia in the intervening months.

Kirlia's powerful mind burst into the Beedrill, and within a split second had it utterly confounded. It turned around at its horrified owner and shot a single volley of pin missiles at him. The grunt fell onto the ground, already passed out, the Beedrill's poison taking effect already.

Ash turned to the computer. ((Here's our chance! Attack that computer!))

Charmeleon sent a scorching blaze of flame straight at the computer, frying its motherboard. Right before the blue-screen appeared, the internet browser page had updated with an 'Upload 100 complete' message.

((Damn it!!)) cursed Ash, not believing his eyes. The bastard agent had managed to evade him twice already… In no time he was dashing down the corridors, running into and shooting another Team Rocket grunt at point-blank before the latter even registered what was happening. Along the way he came across a trio of fallen guards, all comatose or worse, and spared a moment to pour concentrated potion over them. But he kept on running. With Kirlia by his side, tracking down the agent was no difficulty at all, and soon he was once again only one wall away.

((All right, let's get it done right this time,)) goaded Ash, as he sensed the agent summoning his pokemon back out to face Ash's. At the moment they couldn't fight each other directly, seeing as how the locked door in his way somehow didn't respond to Ash's card key. ((Kirlia, Psychic!)) Through the opaque wall Kirlia wove its psychic spell, locking up the agent's mind.

The very next moment the Gengar had done something strange, and to Ash, seemingly hypnotic. And then the agent was back to work as if nothing had happened. _What the!? _thought Ash, taken aback by this failure. It was like the scene with Daisy's Machoke all over again.

((The Gengar had used Hypnosis…)) answered Kirlia.

((Try it again, if we can keep on delaying the agent sooner or later he won't be able to finish his tasks in time,)) Ash told it. Suddenly there was a shrill beeping noise emanating from none other than the Gengar.

((I don't know how, but suddenly I can't use Psychic any more,)) replied Kirlia despondently.

Ash wondered why for a second, and then it hit him. ((That Gengar must have used Disable! Well, if you can't use that use Confusion!))

Kirlia complied, while Ash used his knowledge of locks and telekinetic ability to turn the tumblers of the door. Soon he swung it open, just to see the agent dash off again, recalling back his pokemon in the process.

((Did you get the Gengar?)) queried Ash as he dashed right after the agent, up the stairwell, with Charmeleon right behind. Since the elevators were turned off the moment the alarm had gone off, this was the only way to change floors short of blasting a hole through the ceiling.

The agent gave a single look behind him and saw that Ash was still chasing him, and in fury tossed another tree pokeballs down the stairwell. Just as Ash came up, they materalized into a Vileplume, a Muk, and a Sableye. The first, a massive walking Rafflesia plant, immediately spewed out the stench of rotten meat.

_Humph! Like that would deter me,_ thought Ash in disgust. _But any pokemon standing in my way won't stand for long; I have a task to do._ ((Charmeleon, burn it to a crisp!)) It was very clear that Ash had little to no respect whatsoever for a plant that smelled so _bad._

A second later the Vileplume was running about helplessly, flames billowing from all over its massive petals and turning it into an ashy white.

The Muk – a pokemon that was made literally out of muck and other garbage - then prowled toward them, sliding down the stairwell. It soon proved a non-issue when Kirlia's telekinesis directed the junk attached to its skin off the side of the stairwell (to the lower floor), pulling the rest of the pokemon's body along with it. It roared angrily and haplessly as it found itself unable to even reach its enemies.

The ghost-type Sableye however was not to be underestimated. The twin gems composing its eyes started to glow…

((Quick, look away!)) said Kirlia mentally in what must be akin to a shout.

But it was too late. Ash had already looked into its eyes for too long…


	20. Interception Atop Silph Co Part 2

**The Quest 20: Interception Atop Silph Co. Part 2**

He had looked into the soul-stealing gem eyes of the Sableye.

Terrible images began to swirl through Ash's mind. Kay, his dear sister, was at the center of them all.

Kay, waking up all alone in a little cell, with an Ekans tied around her waist, binding her hands together. Screaming helplessly as the serpent appeared to coil up to strike… The door then opened, revealing that this was but a small fraction of a much larger installation. A researcher in a white lab coat walked up, clipboard in hand, and proceeded to drag his dear Kay off against her will to somewhere down the corridor where a giant machine had been set up…

Then the vision faded, to be replaced by something else.

Kay, now in a set of clothes that Ash was sure never existed in the family wardrobe, was on the ground kneeling, tears flowing freely as two guards stood tall over her, whipping her emotionlessly with barbed leather, each strike tearing at her skin... She was pleading mutely to someone he couldn't see, begging to be allowed to live… it was obvious, however, that whomever she was supplicating before was shaking his head…

Then the vision faded, to be replaced by something else.

Kay, running for her life and crying out desperately for help as several Fearow circled effortlessly overhead, constantly pecking at her for dear life as they chased her through the labyrinthine forest… Zooming in, he could see that her normally flawless skin had been terribly marred by their drill-pecks. His dear sister could be giving out any moment now…

Then the vision faded, to be replaced by something else.

Kay, unconscious, lay sprawled on the ground, as a pokemon he had never seen presided over the entire affair. It held a pokeball the likes of which he had never seen, for it was both black and fluorescent purple, and had an evil-eye marked on it. The pokemon, which was mysteriously in the shape of a human and had three fingers on each hand, levitated the pokeball into the air. A beam of purple light shot out; purple light enveloped his dear Kay, and she vanished into the pokeball.

Then the vision faded, to be replaced by something else.

Kay, her hair terribly frayed, with horrified eyes as she looked at something that Ash couldn't see. She was surrounded by guards, held by chains, and totally helpless before whomever controlled her fate. Nevertheless she shook her hands wildly in a definitive 'no', as if that would do any good. The expression on her face showed the futility of it all; something horrible was bound to happen to her. Something menacing came into his dream-like view, but was a mere silhouette. It approached ever-closer…

"NO!!" screamed Ash through the artificially inflicted nightmare. Suddenly the soul-energies that were being siphoned off from the Dream Eater attack were stilled. The presence in his mind reared back in surprise, and Ash held on with his own mind—and was summarily pulled out of his surreal slumber. He was lying sprawled on the stairwell; his Kirlia was only now applying potion to him, which meant that all the visions he had seen had taken barely any time at all in the real world.

The Sableye was right in front of him. Ash accidentally stared into its eyes yet again… But this time nothing happened.

Ash was practically _burning _with an aura of incredible anger. "NO!!" he repeated so loudly he was sure everyone else on the floor could hear. "I will not give up hope! I refuse to believe that Kay is doomed! You are just a pathetic lie, Sableye! You can do nothing to me! Watch!"

The next moment he simply walked _through_ the Sableye, which, being a ghost pokemon after all, could do nothing to halt his progress. Heartened by this show of resolve, his three pokemon took off after him, passing right through the Sableye like it was nothing.

Up the stairwell they went, two floors up until they reached the 206th. The card key reader here had been disabled too, but Charmeleon burned off the wood and plaster in an inferno, and Cloyster simply smashed into it with its powerful shell, shattering the girders holding up the wall. They went through, Ash with his gun in hand and his Kirlia on his shoulder.

"Stop him!" someone shouted from further up the passageway. Cloyster immediately responded by strafing spikes down the hallway. Several pokemon ran directly into the path of death and were instantly taken down. "My pokemon!" someone screamed. Ash smiled wryly. _Evidently another couple of grunts. _

((Charmeleon, flamethrower, now!))

The Rocket grunt himself came into view, a Feraligatr (_finally a pokemon that could withstand a volley of spikes!_, thought Ash) beside him. The Rocket saw his gun suddenly crack into two and began shaking uncontrollably – that is, until Kirlia entered his already frightened mind and briefly wrestled within it for control of his body.

"Return, Feraligatr!" said the grunt like a total fool, extending out his pokeball. The Feraligatr, which had just prepared some attack or other, was sucked back in, not given the chance to do fair battle.

"Out of my way, everyone," Ash demanded of the three grunts standing before him. They bolted in separate directions, two going to left and right and the other backing up. Ash peered into this third one's mind. _Shit, this guy's a juggernaut! I've got to inform Agent 001! She'll be able to handle this! Then he'll definitely be out of the way!_

"Don't be so sure," said Ash sternly, telekinetically levitating an empty cup to bash into the man's head. He passed out immediately. Ash walked right over him, the locked door in his way unlocking seemingly of its own accord as Ash moved its tumblers.

Agent 007 was at work trying to hack into data another grunt had been unable to hack into, and from the smile on his face he seemed to be succeeding. Without turning to set his eyes on his enemy, he muttered to the grunt, "get rid of them for me." The grunt nodded and turned to face Ash and his pokemon, tossing a normal pokeball into the air.

It flash-vaporized as Charmeleon's inferno disintegrated it.

"That's why you Rockets use ultra balls," said Ash wryly. Generics were just too low-quality to be of much use. The pokemon within was released – a Hitmontop – but the fighting pokemon was already out cold. Ash leered at the quivering grunt and threateningly raised his gun. "Shall we end this?"

"No, please, no!" The grunt turned on his heels and fled out the next door.

"Shit," cursed the agent, releasing his ultra-ball, which passed through Charmeleon's flames unscathed. Spiritomb materialized. "Night Shade!" It immediately generated a cloudy, dark veil around its trainer. As it rapidly expanded to immerse Ash in total darkness, he groped around to regain his bearings. Instead, he bumped into a wall. The entire place, now in darkness, prevented his pokemon from stopping the agent. For a while, the agent would be able to work in relative safety.

((Ignore the Spiritomb,)) Ash communicated to his team. As Kirlia conspired to confound the agent into pressing the wrong buttons, Cloyster and Charmeleon joined together to release a string of explosive spike-cannon blasts at the computer, violently shredding it to pieces. Though the agent was entirely unharmed, he looked at the burnt wreckage of the computer and shouted a string of expletives.

"All right, twerp, you're going down!"

"Oh, I'd like to see you try," Ash taunted back, now sure that he had succeeded in preventing at least one part of the company secrets from being hacked into.

"Go Gengar! Spiritomb, use… Gengar!?" the agent looked on in surprise as the Gengar came out of its pokeball but held onto it so that it did not return to him, then shot a dark-tinted attack at the Spiritomb. Enraged, the two began trading attacks. Each volley that struck the Spiritomb caused the dark sphere protecting the agent to wane…

"Go Typhlosion! Finish them off!" The dead pokemon materialized, causing its trainer to back up, stricken and aghast. Agent 007 looked up to face Ash. "What have you done!?"

"Only to exact my revenge for what Team Rocket did to my sister," Ash snarled back as he flicked off the safety of his gun.

The agent put up his hands, terrified. All thoughts of doing his duty left his mind when he saw that the Night Shade was gone entirely. Everyone there regained their vision, and Ash raised his gun at the criminal. "I didn't have anything to do with whatever might have befallen your sister! Honest I didn't!"

Ash smiled at that. "You should be ashamed of yourself. At least you had the opportunity to, if not honorably, die courageously. You've lost that too."

The agent toppled over backward, blood spots painting the ceiling.

The two warring pokemon took one look at their dead trainer, smiled at Ash, and flew out through the ceiling, exhilarated that they were liberated at last.

((We did it!)) exclaimed Ash to his team, and they cheered back. ((Now let's see… there's also an Agent 001, but too much time has already elapsed… They ought to be leaving this place by now. It's been about four minutes since the espionage operation began, so the police should be just about here. Where would they be going?))

"Ceiling," said Charmeleon.

"I agree, the roof is right above us. I'm guessing they will be free to teleport from there."

"Then that's where we will head to next."

"Hold it right there." Ash recognized the voice; it was the grunt who had been a failure in trying to support Agent 007 just moments earlier.

"Who do you think you are?" demanded Ash. "I let you get away once. I won't be so generous this time."

"I won't need you to be. Guess who I brought along."

Ash thought quickly. _Oh yeah, he probably brought Agent 001…_ _Oh no… My job here is done, I don't want another fight…_

"Prepare for trouble," said Ash, his brow furrowed. His hands flew to the gun.

"Make that double!" shouted the grunt as he strutted into the building, looking mightily pleased with himself. An Exeggutor blocked Ash from getting a direct shot at him; the coconut-tree pokemon would be next to oblivious to gunshot wounds even if Ash did manage to peel off half the bark. Immediately, the Cloyster rolled in front of Ash, obscuring him as well.

"That's right," said a familiar, sweet girl's voice from right behind the Rocket grunt with a hint of sarcasm. There was a rapport, and suddenly the grunt gasped, before teetering to the ground. The Exeggutor opened its four mouths in surprise but was sucked into a pokeball that same second. Finally, Ash could see who this Agent 001 was.

"Ash! Do you remember me?"

Though the agent was entirely cloaked in black there was no mistaking that this was indeed his sister Kay. For an eleven-year-old, she was incredibly mature already, doubtless because of all the trials that she had to undergo at the hands of Team Rocket. But just to be sure he psychically scanned her mind before answering. Once he was sure this was Kay and not another instance of someone with a voice changer (he couldn't see behind the black cloak she wore), Ash decided not to intrude in her mind any more. It just wasn't right to do it to a family member.

"Of course I do, sis!" he said, tossing aside the gun to his Charmeleon before embracing her. Kay's familiar warmth was refreshingly soothing to him; her sobs and tears just as touching. Ash decided to weep openly as well. "It's… been… so long," he managed at last. "And you've grown far more than I expected possible." His three pokemon watched on, astonished; the Charmeleon then proceeded to join in on the hugging.

"Yes, and you have too… But… Ash! What on earth are you doing _here, _of all places?" Kay asked, as they continued to hang on to each other.

"Why, taking my revenge on Team Rocket for your abduction," replied Ash matter-of-factly.

"You shouldn't…" Kay tried to stifle a sob, but it didn't work.

"Come on, I'm here to spirit you off to safety," Ash began.

"You can't."

"What?"

"Sorry, but I can't go."

"You can't be serious! Just come with me—"

"Ash! I have to stay with Team Rocket!" Kay burst out unexpectedly.

"And why is that?" the Charmeleon gave her an awkward face.

Kay sighed. "It's a long story," she said at last, changing the mood into one of somber reflections.

"Now that my task is accomplished, I have time to listen to it all," Ash prompted.

"_You_ do. But I… I might only have a minute with you before I must go."

"Why must you go?"

Kay sighed again, not knowing how to begin. "After I was abducted…"

"Did they do anything to you?" Ash interrupted worriedly.

"Yes, they did – they put me inside this large machine and – and..."

"And what?" asked Ash.

"And somehow it made me half-pokemon."

Ash laughed. "Oh, this is hilarious! _You_, a pokemon?!"

"A dark type. Here, let me demonstrate." Kay shot Ash a glare without even moving the cloak aside, and suddenly a powerful torrent of pain struck at his mind, knocking him down onto the floor. Immediately the Charmeleon and the Cloyster took up aggressive positions to protect their trainer, while the Kirlia landed gracefully, as she evidently knew what was going on quite clearly.

"Aaaaa! Quit it, Kay, quit it!" Ash screamed in panic and shock. Immediately the pain went away.

"You see what I mean?" asked Kay in a forlorn voice. "I've become a dark-pokemon hybrid."

"Well, what's that to prevent you from coming with me to safety? Isn't it better than staying with these Rocket bastards?" Ash asked quizzically.

"It means that I'll be under my master's control," she replied gloomly.

"You're a slave?" asked Ash incredulously. _It's weird for even an organization notorious for abducting pokemon to turn their so-called 'Agent 001' into a slave… Because it's kind of hard to have just one master for so many slaves…_

"Not much better than that," Kay replied, nearly whimpering.

"Well, if you come with me—"

"I'll die," Kay finished the sentence with striking finality.

Ash hung his mouth open. "But why?"

"Because my master has implanted a series of light-bulbs within my chest. And, you know, even though a dark-type can withstand direct sunlight for a short while, being lit up from within is equivalent to a death sentence," Kay intoned.

"I never thought it would be this serious," Ask remarked, perhaps a bit pathetically. "Does this mean there's nothing we can do about it? Can't we rush you to the nearest hospital operating room and have them do surgery to extract it?"

"My master has already thought of that. The implant isn't as simple as you think. He's got it all planned out ere I got abducted. Long before it can be extracted I'll be dead."

"Then—"

"Don't you forget about mom, brother! Her life is in their hands! Even if the operation goes successfully, do you never want to see her alive again?"

"Where is she?"

"I've no clue. But it's clear that you can't rescue me, remove the implant, and rescue mom all at the same time. So in the future, don't even try. You can't succeed. And all you'll accomplish is to put my life further at risk. If my master finds out--"

"But—"

Kay put a finger on his lips. "No buts, brother." Then she seemed to stare off at the ceiling, speaking ever so mournfully: "Oh, how I long to be able to frolic in the sunlight! But now even that is permanently off-limits. I have to stay hidden in the shadows all the bright day, only to venture out at night, I have to do whatever my master tells me to do, and in constant fear for my life… Oh, Ash! This life of mine I surrender to Team Rocket. But I want you to promise me one thing."

"Anything!"

Kay came right up to Ash and cuddled closely in his arms. "It has always been my wish to become a pokemon master, to win badges from all sixteen gym leaders across the mainland and battle the Elite Four. I guess that dream's forever out of reach now. So I should like you to do that for me. Live the life that I won't be able to. For me." She looked up into his eyes so sweetly. "Will you do that, brother?"

"Count on it," Ash whispered back as they caressed each other.

"Thank you. And now, I must go…" She disentangled herself from Ash and proceeded to the exit.

"Wait, Kay! There's so much I need to know! Where's your dwelling? Where's the headquarters? Who's your master?"

"Shush. I really have to go now, and even if I had the time, I wouldn't tell you. Promise me you won't come chasing after me again. My life with the Team isn't as bad as you may think."

"No, Kay! I can't promise that! I saw horrible visions of dreadful things happen to you! I'll keep trying to RESCUE YOU!" he shouted in her direction, but by then she had already gone out of sight. In the silence of the room he could hear the whirring of a flight of helicopters landing on the roof just above. But he knew that he couldn't go stop Team Rocket then. It would be like the Team Rocket pair who fought practically everyone else at the Saffron City Tournament – they were doomed from the beginning. And he would put Kay's life at risk, as if he hadn't already by compromising the mission which she, as Agent 001, must be responsible for…

Ash sighed. He had gone so far, had done so much, had come so close, yet he couldn't do anything to help either his sister or mother.

Ash then collapsed on the ground, crying his heart out in utter sorrow.


	21. Bye Bye BlueChip

**The Quest 21: Bye Bye Blue-Chip**

Ash hadn't known how long he had been on the floor crying, but then he had decided at last to see the rooftop where he knew Kay must have walked last. The sky-hatch stairwell was one flight tall, but it seemed to take Ash a long while to get there. He didn't know how much longer he would have to wait before he could meet Kay again. But he knew he would; he just had to, even if it took until he became a full-fledged adult…

He was thinking all these things that he didn't even notice that he had arrived at the rooftop, in the frigid twilight air some two thousand feet high. The sun was setting, its brilliant ruby orb slowly dipping into the horizon as streaks of exotic orange, purple, and pink radiated outward through the heavens. A vague, gilded outline highlighted the contours of the clouds. On the other side, the sky became progressively darker in a rich variant of purple. In a corner of the flat roof was a large penthouse. Overhead, several helicopters marked with the symbol of the Saffron City police buzzed. Kay was nowhere in sight.

He spent a long while on the rooftop, alone in his silence, trying to calm his mind down and relax despite the obvious impossibility of it. What would happen to his sister? Or his mother, for that matter? And to think he, a trainer, could do nothing about it… It was just too much to bear.

Finally he ventured back downstairs. He returned to the same room where Agent 007 and his comrade had fallen. All the doors and walls had reverted to their normal state, except for those that had been obliterated in the firefight. As Kirlia affirmed, the place was already swarming with police. _How long did I spend on the rooftop? _Ash wondered. There were investigators taking pictures of the agent and grunt, and two Silph Co. guards were being interrogated about this particular death. Ash reasoned that the fact that the Team Rocket guards weren't revived was because they were already past the 'near-death' stage by the time the police had arrived.

"Tomorrow, when the news breaks out, I'm sure the company CEO, Mr. Cash, will call for a board meeting at the penthouse atop the roof," testified a guard.

"What files were here?" asked the questioner, who had a police badge pinned on his dark blue uniform.

"Databases and documents regarding the master ball's new algorithm for intercepting other pokeballs from catching a trainer's pokemon," replied a guard. "It's a very important, perhaps even essential part of the technology used for creating the master ball."

"Thankfully, now that we had killed the Team Rocket agents, that stuff may not have been successfully uploaded," added the other.

"Yeah right you killed them, _I _did that!" exclaimed Ash in righteous fury that someone would take responsibility for a kill that he had made. He tossed his gun onto the ground right in front of the startled investigator.

"No, we did," the guards retorted with what Ash knew was a clear lie.

He took up two pokeballs. "Show me pokemon that could have done that to that computer," Ash challenged, tossing them into the air. His Charmeleon and Cloyster materialized. The guards were taken aback by this challenge, and backed down uncertainly.

The investigator shot them a doubtful, scornful look, then turned to Ash. "Well then, would you care to explain just what happened?"

"That would be a long story to tell in one night, but I'll cut to the quick. I'm a nobody at this company, but I had been given the privilege of helping the guards stop a Team Rocket operation late this evening. And that's exactly what I did. The grunt over there was killed by their own so-called 'Agent 001'. And now, would you please move out of the way? I have other matters to attend to." The police grunts walked out of the way, but only after taking a few hasty snapshots of his face.

"Young man, wait! Did the agent manage to get this database uploaded to the internet?"

Ash was already leaving the room. "That's for me to know and for you to find out," he said with a wry smile.

"This is an investigation, you know!" said the questioner, exasperated. "Go Chimecho! Scan that boy's mind!" he said, tossing a pokeball.

The wind-chime pokemon materalized and inserted its mental presence in Ash's mind. ((Kirlia, stop him,)) he telepathed to it curtly. His Kirlia then went into Ash's mind, and together they jabbed a spike of pain into the Chimecho. Ash smiled as it was forced to back off, wincing. This was another psychic ability he had learned from his encounter with Sabrina, and he knew the importance of keeping a secret all right. "No, this is an aftermath," Ash retorted, before walking down the hallway toward the now-active elevators. His pokemon trailed him (or in Kirlia's case, sat on his shoulder).

"Hey Ash, I think we ought to celebrate our victory today by going to a buffet," prompted Charmeleon.

"Not until after you manage to do your math homework correctly," replied Ash.

"Aww…"

"Quit mumbling or I'll have you take a _bath_," Ash joked. It put his Charmeleon back into line in a hurry, even though it was quite capable of tearing Ash apart.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

It was late morning of the next day, and while Ash sat on a felled tree log and looked through store catalogs, his Kirlia was up and about dancing on its graceful, slender legs. It was a beauty to look at, and Ash just wondered what it would be like when it metamorphosed into its final form. He didn't even know what Kirlia would choose to become – a male Gallade or a female Gardevoir…

"There now, you happy?" Charmeleon said at last, pushing a sheet of paper in front of Ash's eyes. It had used its claws to write down the calculations. It was about how quickly his smokescreen would disseminate throughout a room. There was quite a bit of physics involved, taking into consideration such concepts as root-mean-square-speed and whatnot, and the intermediate steps weren't written out very well.

"Hmm, it seems to be correct… But why can't you do your work the way your pal Cloyster does it?" Ash returned, holding up another sheet of paper. Cloyster had on it, meticulously worked out the physics of how long it would take, using its ability Rollout, to hit a target fifty feet away when on a thirty-degree incline downhill. That almost-always hidden brain of its knew Newtonian Physics with surprising acuity.

"Well, can we go eat at a buffet now? I'm practically starving!" None of them had eaten any breakfast.

The next moment an audible rumble came out of Ash's stomach. "Erm… Yes…"

"All right! At last!" cheered Charmeleon. "After having had to eat freshly caught (and poorly cooked) meats almost every day for much of the past year, it would be a delight to indulge in something tasty for once!"

"Meh, I'll stay out here in the woods," said Cloyster, reaffirming its intention to eat nothing but algae and plankton.

"Take care," Ash told Cloyster, before wincing as Kirlia suddenly teleported onto his shoulder again. "Can't you give me a warning before you get on?"

((Oops, I forgot…))

"Whatever… Let's go," Ash said, and suddenly the trio vanished, to reappear right outside the entrance to the restaurant.

"All you can eat style! This is exactly what I want! Smoked foods, broiled foods, barbeque…" Charmeleon began blabbering excitedly like a little baby again.

"Hey, take it easy," Ash told it. "I'm footing the bill on this one with my credit card, and I don't like to be indebted to anyone," he warned.

"I'll behave," said Charmeleon wisely, though its tail continued to dangle and swoosh from side to side, posing a significant fire hazard to what was otherwise a mostly wooden building. Someone released a Squirtle just in case things started smelling overly burnt…

No trouble came of it. When they were finished the trio paid their bills (290.50), then departed for the brokerage. Ash looked at his watch and saw that it was now 10:20 AM – enough time for the stock market to adjust.

"Hello there young man, what may I do for you?" asked the broker ever so pleasantly as Ash walked in.

"What's going on with Silph Co.?"

"Ah yes, that, yesterday night there was trouble in the form of a massive Team Rocket infiltration. I think a diagram might be what you're looking for." He turned his computer screen around so that Ash could see it quite clearly. The stock chart for SYLF had a variety of candlesticks, and Ash knew how to read it. The one for the morning was nothing but down – from a high of 2,502.56 a share at ten o'clock sharp to 1,063.24 a share about thirty seconds later. The stock was incredibly efficient – it had entirely adjusted based on what new information had just come out that morning about the company's outlook. In the next twenty minutes the stock had continued to plunge, now to a low 912.00 a share. It hadn't changed much in the last ten minutes, which meant it probably wasn't going to go much lower.

Ash smiled. "Ah, so Silph Co.'s stock has been inflated lately because of the prospects for their master ball design, isn't it?"

"Seems like it," replied the broker. "After all, we're estimating that a master ball monopoly could sell them for 100,000 Kanto dollars or more each, putting them far ahead of even the luxury ball. Rumor is that Team Rocket's espionage had stolen an incredible amount of information. As far as algorithms go, once online they can't be eradicated from hyperspace. Most people are thinking that if indeed important parts of the master ball algorithms had been stolen, Silph Co. may not get the patent. And the company had poured many fortunes into its R&D. As for now, we don't know what the situation is going to be like, and we're still waiting news about what data had actually been leaked out. But, as you know, times of uncertainly are also the best times for turning a profit," the broker prodded.

"Indeed," replied Ash. From what he knew, being an insider at last evening's interception, he knew that Team Rocket had been unable to steal at least something of great importance – Ash had by now forgotten exactly what the technological ramifications were, but his insider knowledge meant that he knew that Team Rocket's real chance of having obtained the complete information for creating a master ball was much lower than what others were predicting. Which meant that stocks will go back up once the confusion has been cleared up.

Which meant that he should buy stocks now.

"My portfolio is currently short SYLF by eighty shares, so I'd like to buy and transfer them now."

"Ah yes, the other person lost a little bit of money then," the broker reasoned. Ash could tell that to him even a million Kanto dollars was small change.

Ash did some quick calculations. He could pay off his short position in SYLF for 72,900.00 Kanto dollars, for which he had received 200,000.00. That meant his shorting SYLF had turned him a profit of 137,690.00 overnight. Far more than he could receive by 'gambling' in the casino…

_My but am I greedy._

He had some 148,000.00 Kanto dollars in assets. So he could buy another 160 shares of SYLF without having to draw on credit. And he didn't want to do that, just in case things didn't work out as he expected. He didn't want to have to be sidetracked by working for someone to repay debts when he should be striving to rescue his family.

"I'll buy 160 shares of SYLF," ordered Ash. Within seconds the transaction was done, and he walked out with that security - and practically nothing in his wallet. Instead, he was 1000.00 in debt. Not too much; just enough to fill out his order into a nice, round number.

Now, normally it would be prudent to not 'put all your eggs in one basket'. But Ash, having advance knowledge, and being a psychic and all, knew better. For him, it made more sense to 'put all your eggs in one basket – and then _watch that basket'_.

And that was exactly what he was going to do, he said to himself as he walked toward the Silph Co. Tower.

The place was incredibly busy. An immense and sudden fall in the company stock had revealed a major vulnerability that few people had seen beforehand. The formerly solid blue-chip stock had suddenly become incredibly volatile, and throughout the ground floor Ash could see enraged and dismayed shareholders alternately shouting at their wealth managers and financial advisors via phone and demanding an explanation from the company's swamped public relations team.

"I repeat, there is no need to worry about the prospects of this company," shouted someone with a loud voice in an obviously futile but necessary attempt to calm the stockholders. "Your stock in this company will hold its value over time. The master ball plans could not have been stolen, and competitors will be unable to produce production of master balls." Now for a change of topic to divert attention away from their worries: "On other fronts, we are making ground-breaking technological advances. We will secure our patent within the month and proceed to sell master balls at monopoly prices. Your stocks are worth more than their current value, just remember that. So don't sell."

Nevertheless the predominant single word muttered by people over and over again on their phones was "Sell!" Ash snickered despite himself as he fought to reach the elevators. These people obviously had no clue what they were doing, no clue what the future would hold for them…

"Get rid of these shares, sir!"

"Nah! I believe prices are going to go up again! Buy!"

"Sell this stupid stock!"

"I'm not getting a reasonable explanation from their PR officials. Tell our men to sell half of our holdings in this company!"

"We can't tell. Nah, it's a hold…"

"Thank you, anchor. Here we are at the Silph Tower ground floor, where enraged stockholders are furious that such a calamity could occur to the prices of what had until now always been considered a blue-chip stock. SYLF—"

"Sell!"

"What I want to know is, why the heck did you call this a blue-chip if it can suddenly lose so much value?"

Ash was nearing the elevator now. He still had his card key from yesterday, and he slipped it into the card reader.

"Don't try to reason with me, sir! I want my shares of SYLF sold and sold _now!"_

The next moment the elevator doors closed around him and he was going up. The workers in the same cage as he was gave him an askew look, wondering what such a small kid was doing coming up with them. _He's probably some CEO's son or something… But he doesn't look like it…_

It took a long time, and his ears were now hurting a lot from the change in air pressure, but finally he had arrived at the 206th floor. He passed by a lot of worried company workers who had suddenly seen their own assets crumble as the company stock fell. From there it was a short walk before he had arrived at the roof. The penthouse, larger than his own home, loomed before him. _I wonder if the CEO's already in there. It'll be interesting to hear what he has to say…_

As it turned out, the place mostly empty. That is, except for a single large conference room which was filled with important people, many of whom Ash assumed to be Goldenrod analysts (aka. Financial analysts). The CEO was missing, probably because given this bad situation any reasonable person would want to procrastinate. Overhead, several Chimecho floated about, and guards stood at the entrance as well as along the halls.

"Hey, kiddo, what are you doing here?" challenged a guard as Ash walked up.

"Yeah, this is serious business happening here, you shouldn't intervene."

"Who I am?" Ash challenged right back, even though he was considerably smaller than the armed guards. "I'm a guard here, too!"

The two guards burst into laughter. "Ha ha! You a guard!? Silph doesn't accept kiddies like you to be guards, ya know!"

Ash snarled. "You'll be mistaken if you don't think I'm a guard. I did a lot of good for your company too last night, only you don't know it."

"Hey kid, give up on your lie once you know it won't work, okay? That's a hint for life," a guard said pedantically.

"Humph! Well it also turns out that it's not my only reason for being here. I'm also a major shareholder of this company! I _own _this company! I'm your _boss_! So let me in!" He flashed his proof – the certificate that he had bought the shares of the company. For a moment the guards looked at it.

Then they burst out laughing for the second time in one day. "Major shareholder?! With just a hundred and some shares?!"

The other guard joined in, "You've got to be kidding with me! The CEO isn't letting anyone in to this meeting unless they have at least a hundred thousand shares, and that's just being light!"

"Grr, let me in!"

"Nope, sorry, no can do," said the guard, striking a pose. Ash was stuck in the hallway, and he knew that the walls here were bound to be soundproof.

Just then a balding man in his sixties and wearing a flawless tuxedo and necktie came into the hallway. He stopped and stared at Ash for a moment, then reached into his pocket to pull out a picture. He looked back and forth at Ash, at the picture, and back. Then he put it away, and walked up to the door to the conference room. The guards let him pass, bowing down to whom even Ash knew was Mr. Marc Cash. But then he startled the guards by turning around at the doorstep and pointing at Ash.

"You - come in with me."

The guards looked at the CEO and at Ash and back with a totally perplexed look on their face.

Ash threw out his tongue at them. "Who's got the last laugh?" he said, before following the CEO in.


	22. The Truth About Team Rocket

**The Quest 22: The Truth About Team Rocket**

It turned out everyone there was dressed just like Marc Cash, so these people were probably either Goldenrod analysts or buy-side investment bankers. They sat in rows of chairs and all faced one way. There were no cameras anywhere; evidently this was a closed meeting to the end. In the far end of the conference room was a raised platform with a podium, and the CEO headed there directly. Ash came up meekly as well, wondering just why he had been thusly singled out.

Meanwhile, the CEO had begun his speech. Despite the atmosphere of the morning, he didn't seem all that perturbed. Ash watched with awe as the audience hung on to every single sentence the man said, down to the last word. Meanwhile, no one tried to psychically extract information from the CEO's mind. The Chimecho and the ample alarms about the place prevented that from happening.

"Ahem. Sorry to keep you all waiting, but I had to be briefed about what had happened last night. I swear on my honor that the speech I am about to present is the truth, all the truth, and nothing but the truth.

"As you all know, mere days ago we and the Saffron City police had received a warning from a certain someone that an espionage mission by Team Rocket was imminent. It turned out to be accurate down to the time of the day that it was to occur. We had made our preparations and increased the number of guards what would be protecting the place at that time.

"Shortly before the operation began and guards began to fight Team Rocket undercover agents, that certain someone came back to Silph Tower and proceeded to lay in wait for the criminals. By that time he had been okayed by the Chimecho guarding the floor. Then he proceeded to help in the fight against them. Aside from perhaps fifty Team Rocket grunts, there were also two agents that were singled out – Agent 007 and Agent 001.

"Although our guards outnumbered the enemy, most were trapped in their rooms as the card key administrator access was hacked into. Most of the guards had little to no success fighting against the Rocket grunts, and were quickly killed off. We lost forty guards in all. Six more would have died if this one person hadn't administered potions to them in time. Of the Rockets, twenty-four were killed, of which this Agent 007 was one fatality. It was the same person who had killed him, and perhaps some of the grunts as well. Agent 001, however, escaped, as did the slight majority of the rockets, via helicopter before we could intercept them.

"I don't know how he did it, but this person I keep constantly referring back to managed to do far more than anyone else, and he is only a teenager. Almost all the stations' data were uploaded – with the exception of two of them. One was perhaps too unimportant to merit the Rockets' attention. The other station was destroyed by this same youngster mere seconds before the data could be uploaded, so the entire upload from that station failed. This station contained our archives of the new algorithm for the master ball that would prevent its pokemon from being captured by another pokeball – the so-called 'destabilization beam'. It is a key component to the master ball.

"Let us welcome this person who has been the driving force behind Silph Corporation's resistance against Team Rocket." He shoved Ash in front of the crowd, which gave half-hearted cheers. After all, vast sums of money were at risk. "What is your name?"

"Ash. Ash Ketchum, of Pallet Town."

"Mr. Ash Ketchum, because of what you have done to help Silph Co, I hereby pronounce you an official Friend Emeritus of Silph Corporation." Ash blushed as several members of the audience cheered and as the CEO himself clapped for him.

"Wow, I… I'm honored, sir—"

"Now, if you would excuse me, I must return to my speech," he said, gently shoving Ash out of the limelight.

"Yes, the destabilization beam algorithm is a key component of the master ball. But it was not the most important component by far. That description belongs to the Keystone Algorithm, by which the master ball is able to actually capture _any_ wild pokemon, regardless of strength, type, maturity, resistance tactics, size, or environment. The Keystone Algorithm is what you're all here for, after all. I'm pleased to inform you that it was never at risk of being stolen."

By the end of that sentence the vast majority of the audience had their phones almost up to their ears. None dialed, but that was because they had already dialed thirty minutes ago and nobody had hung up.

"The Keystone Algorithm was copied onto a separate server not a part of Silph Tower. The data pertaining to it have been removed from all of Silph Tower's laboratories and work stations. This morning I had personally made a trip to the remote database and found that it has not been disturbed. So, all is well, and—"

His speech was suddenly cut off by a uniform "BUY!" from everyone there. "_Buy as much as you can!"_ Then the entire place fell into chaos as people started passing orders to people back in Goldenrod City (the investment hub of the world).

"—And we're now applying for a patent…" No one heard him, though.

The CEO turned to Ash. "Well, since you helped this company so much and are now a Friend Emeritus, I think it only proper to give you a gift the likes of which you've never seen before." He opened up his briefcase. Inside were documents, and several unusual-looking pokeballs. These had a purple top with pink patches and a white bottom, and were the same size as all the other versions of pokeballs. They even felt the same; only their coloration and a small M in the front indicated they were somehow different.

He put one in Ash's hand.

"This is one of your rewards. I'm sure you know what it is and alpha testing passed flawlessly, but do keep in mind that it's just now entering beta testing. There may still be situations in which it will not work. Here's your new Friend Emeritus badge, which doubles as a card key here at Silph Co. In case Team Rocket comes after you, remember, master balls, even the prototypes, cannot be reverse-engineered to generate the algorithms. I wish you good luck on your journey."

Ash closed his fingers around the master ball. It was the size of a ping-pong ball and looked so puny it didn't seem commensurate with what he had put in lately in order to obtain it, but he knew its worth.

They were just entering beta testing. This was probably the first master ball released, even if it was a prototype. It must be worth in excess of 200,000.00. Not that he would be stupid enough to sell it, of course…

He looked up at the CEO and said pathetically, "Thanks."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The boss was resting on his easy chair, a Persian cat purring softly on his lap. Everything in his room was orderly. It had to be, if he was to keep track of things. And things had to be kept track of if he ever hoped to achieve his ultimate objective… which was far from trying to rule the world. It was _way _different from something that selfish. No, he was being altruistic. And he made sure that this enthusiasm exuded from his minions. It was what kept the Team going anyway, and what made him think of the name Team Rocket.

A hint: Its original name was Team _Racket_.

Of course, in the meantime most Team grunts had little clue what the ultimate purpose of things was. So the whole thing spread though relatives. Most people in Team Rocket knew each other, or were somehow related to each other. The Kevin Bacon thing.

As he pondered this, his attention was disturbed by the door to his room opening. The guards right next to him jumped to attention. The eleven-year-old but already quite mature Kay walked in. _Oh yeah, it's almost her birthday… Note to self, throw her a party_. The boss wasn't the unkindly kind.

"Hello, Kay," said the boss. Months of having known each other meant that his words to her were pretty friendly.

Kay quickly got on her knees. "Yes, master?"

He never saw Kay as being his slave, but she had of her own accord gotten around to calling him 'master', something which practically no one else in the Team did. She was a good girl…

But her brother wasn't. "It seems you have met your brother at the Silph Tower," he began.

Kay gasped. "how did you know?!"

"Let's just say I have a pokemon who knows," the boss replied.

Kay looked around, unsure of how to respond but knowing that lying probably wouldn't do any good. "Yes, he's a trouble-maker, and he said he wanted to rescue me, so when I met him I told him to keep away from me or else he would put my life at risk. I don't think he will be much of a trouble from now on." She certainly didn't want the boss to be suspicious and try anything that would put her brother at risk.

"Good. Though somehow I doubt it." The boss looked at his agenda. Next item on it was indeed Kay's report. "Your report? Ah yes, how did that espionage mission go?"

"It went pretty well, master. We managed to upload to our database almost everything of note in Silph Co."

"Don't think that 'almost' went unnoticed."

"I understand, master. The one exception was at station I-6E. I presume you know what the data there was?"

The boss's desk doubled as a touch-based computer screen. He flicked it on, and opened the spreadsheet that had a map of Silph Co.'s archival work stations. "Ah yes, I-6E. The one with only, and all of, the information concerning the master ball's interception algorithm. What do _you_ think of that?"

"I'm sorry, master. I failed in my mission. Now Team Rocket won't be able to reconstruct the master ball."

"Ahem… No. We can substitute that of the pokeball, or the great ball, or the ultra-ball… That makes little difference of things."

Kay was visibly very relieved. "Well then… Is everything as you wish?"

"Hmm… Do you also know that we're missing the Keystone Algorithm? The one that _defines_ the master ball?"

Kay's relief suddenly turned into utter dismay and shock. Within moments she had started quivering in fear at what the boss would do to her in punishment. Actually, he didn't feel like doing anything to her, but just for kicks, he was going to act out the role of villain… It'll be fun once, since he hadn't had an opportunity to do so for _years_ now…

"Not only that, but I also heard that you took it upon yourself to be 'Agent 001' for that mission in spite of the fact that you aren't even a double-ooh agent at all." The boss faked a snarl, and quickly reached for a remote control. The same one that activated the lights imbedded within Kay's soft skin. Holding it in his hand, he stood up and slowly walked toward her with a fake-ominous gait…

Kay's eyes bulged with fear as she fell to the ground, pleading, "No, oh Arceus no, don't do that! Please!! Master, I beg you! I –Aaaaaaaaahh!" Her words were cut off as he pressed the button. The guards looked on stoically as she writhed in agony from this one type of pain that her dark-type hybridization only made worse.

But only for a moment. Because the boss wasn't the kind who got a sadistic pleasure out of anything. He quickly returned the remote control to its drawer, not intending to use it again for as long as Kay listened to him, and sat down.

Kay continued to scream for a short while afterward. Then she looked up at him with terrified eyes. She was just so _helpless _against him…

"Oh, Kay, get up…" She hurriedly got back up, nearly stumbling several times while doing so, anxious not to displease the boss. The guards snickered.

"Yes, master?" she asked, her voice quavering.

"Kay… You shouldn't be so afraid of me, not when you haven't done anything wrong."

"What? But master, how could I have not done anything wrong while the Keystone Algorithm is clearly missing?"

"Because," said the boss, "replicating the master ball was never part of the plan." This stunned Kay all right, and even the boss had to snicker at this point. "No, we don't care much at all for the master ball. You see… Oh, no point explaining things out of order. First order of business: Since you obviously have taken a liking to the role of Agent 001, and because you _did_ lead the mission atop Sylph Tower and you _were _successful, I'm making you Agent 001. Not permanently, but you'll be shifting everyone else back through 006, since Agent 007 died." _Maybe I'm getting softened up by the way she keeps flattering me with that 'master' thing…_

"I couldn't accept that—"

"You really don't want it?" That got Kay to shut up quick. "Now as I was saying. You're now Agent 001. That makes you a member of my inner circle. I'll now tell you about what Team Rocket is all about, something I believe you must be dying to hear. Security cameras off!"

The guards turned off the security cameras, and then at a wave from the boss, left the room. The door locked into place, acting as a soundproof barrier from any eavesdropping.

"Kay… In the last few months I've seen you grow a lot. You've matured from being a silly, resistant girl into a capable, brilliant young lady. I think you'll only get better. So take your new position with pride. You deserve it. And now, for the initiation ceremony. Team Rocket is more accurately known as Team Racket.

"Our objective is to improve this world, and its society, in one way.

"Ever since two hundred years ago, when the industrial revolution really gained steam, people have developed ever-more lethal weaponry. And in the last few decades, the development of the pokeball by Silph Corporation has allowed people to train their own fighting machines. Yes, that's in essence what pokemon are: Fighting machines. Police use them. Militaries use them. We used them in getting you. And it will only get worse now that medicine has the ability to fully restore someone in just a minute. It will only allow for even more fighting. As if this world wasn't bad enough just from the invention of gunpowder!

"What I'm trying to do is to cause a dramatic, world-changing event to occur. This event was foretold to me in my childhood, and it concerns the god of all pokemon. You know what that is?"

"Yes, master, I do; it's Arceus, the Lord of Seventeen Types."

"Precisely." He swiveled around in his easy chair and pressed a button. The wall behind him suddenly split and drew aside, revealing a large painting of the pokemon.

"Arceus is the only one capable of bringing about the change I'm proposing. But getting it to do so isn't as simple as knocking on its door. There's a very good reason why it's all so shrouded in mythology. We have no idea where Arceus dwells, just the extent of its powers, and how it will act."

"Then how do you know that what you are trying to do will even work, master?"

"Ah, everyone else I've let into my inner circle has asked the same question. Back when I was a child, I lived at Pastoria City in Sinnoh. There's a mystical lake nearby, known as Lake Valor. I ventured there one day and came across a certain species of legendary pokemon which I'm sure you've never seen before. It is known as Uxie, and it is one third of the trio of fairy pokemon upon which much of Sinnoh lore is based. Many texts refer to Uxie as the all-knowing. Though it certainly can keep its secrets to itself, on that day so long ago we had a heart-to-heart talk about the situation of the world. Uxie agreed with me, and told me what I now know about Arceus. I trust that Uxie will deliver on its words."

"Uxie?"

"You can appear before us now, Uxie!" said the boss.

Suddenly a pokemon materialized from thin air. Kay gazed in wonderment as she looked upon it for the first time. It had a floaty, cat-like appearance, with blue skin and two ruby-studded tails. It wore what appeared to be a yellow helmet, upon which was set a solitary ruby. It was definitely fantastic, to say the least.

"Uxie… the all-knowing? In your possession? No wonder you knew all about my encounter with Ash…" she muttered.

"Uxie, you want to tell her your plans?"

"All right," it said in a floaty voice, "Team Rocket's plan is to cause a racket – an all-out pokemon battle – of such cataclysmic proportions that Arceus will be forced to intervene. I know just how much is necessary to goad it into action, so only as little suffering as necessary will be caused in the process. Arceus will then become outraged that pokemon are being used to fight humans' wars, and will intervene by casting a world-spell. This spell will cause much of human technology as we know it to break down, greatly reducing the lethality of weapons and attacks. It will promote the peaceful coexistence of humans with pokemon, and will wipe out all thought of serious injury from their minds. In other words, the world will turn into an utopia. This I have foreseen and will come to pass in due time." Then the fairy pokemon disappeared, leaving Kay gasping in astonishment at the boss.

"So, you see, that is the reason for Team Rocket's existence. In order to accomplish that goal, however, we still need more pokemon. At the current rate we will need to garner pokemon for a long time to come, and gaining the master ball will not be of much help because freshly caught, untrained pokemon aren't capable of doing much. We have neither the resources nor the patience to train pokemon from scratch when we know many of them will die for the greater good.

"That is why we have always been preoccupied with stealing others' pokemon – and in particular those whose pokemon are at least somewhat capable. Your brother's Charmeleon, for example, we attempted to obtain because it was capable of resisting water, something that would put most similar pokemon into hypothermia.

"Master balls will do us no good. There are only a limited number of pokemon who are capable of much without needing a great deal of training that this master ball can catch. So, duplicating the master ball was never at the forefront of your mission atop Silph Co., much less getting the patent approved. That was merely a façade.

"But now, we have finally obtained what we need: Silph Co.'s great ball and ultra-ball destabilization algorithms. With that, we will be able to create a new type of ball, to be called the racket ball, that is capable of stealing trainers' pokemon directly. This will be done by intercepting and reversing those balls' destabilization beams. If this is to work – and Uxie thinks it can't fail – then suddenly we will be very close to fulfilling our mission at long last.

"That is all."

Kay curtsied, but didn't know what to say. This bit of information was perhaps too much for her. She had to go think on it, because she had never known Team Rocket to actually have such a purpose before. On one hand, it made sense not to tell anyone but those in the inner circle about this goal and about the Uxie. On the other… she didn't know what to make of it.

"And now," continued the boss, "we have a little… game to play with your brother. I think you already know what to do." He pressed a button, and the door re-opened. The guards walked in side by side, and between them was…

Another Kay.


	23. Back in the High Life Again

**The Quest 23: Back in the High Life Again**

By the time Ash had returned to the brokerage, the ticker was showing shares of SYLF trading at 2290.30 a share.

((Probably because those other people you saw in the penthouse were actually top investment bankers and financial analysts,)) mused Kirlia. ((They could easily represent 80 or more of the investment community with any interest in Sylph Co.'s stocks.))

((We'll sell our stocks for a handy profit now,)) noted Ash. ((Do you think it'll go higher?))

((I think there's a time to call enough's enough,)) replied Kirlia. ((If you have any intention of leaving Saffron City any time soon, it's best to sell your position, or else you won't be able to use your psychic abilities to your advantage when it comes to predicting the direction of the stocks. You saw earlier today how the stock market adjusts within seconds to new sources of information. From here on the share price won't rise because of any news you obtained back at the penthouse.))

((Good point.)) "Hey, I would like to sell 160 shares of SYLF, sir."

The broker turned around and didn't show an inkling of having seen Ash before. He had probably seen too many people in the interim time. "All right, give me your account ID and PIN, and let me open your account for you… All right, 160 shares at 2290.30 a share!... Done! The money has been transferred to your credit card, and the surplus, your debit card."

"Thanks." As Ash put his debit and credit cards back in his wallet, he did a quick calculation. _Capital gains tax is 15... I now have a net asset of 310,550,_ he mused happily. _That's more than what my mom could earn in a year. No wonder they call finance the biggest money tree in the world… Gosh am I happy that I'm a psychic… Now we can buy those TM's I always wanted to get for my pokemon!_

Ash hadn't been effectively this rich since he first set out from Pallet Town. All along the way he had been rather desolate, stuck with wandering the wilderness and making do all on his own. His spending had gone down to nearly nothing. He could go for months at a time without making a trip to a restaurant ever since his Kirlia, then Cloyster became adept at hunting game. And now, he was rich again. He was back in the high life again – except this time without family to share it with.

((We're your family now,)) Kirlia replied, to which Ash merely nodded.

As he walked down the street, he released his pokemon, who fell in line behind him as he marched. "We've struck the pot big time," said Ash, and they cheered for him. Ash beamed enthusiastically. "Well, my sister Kay wants me to fulfill a mission for her, so how about we get started on that?"

"That'll be good," replied Charmeleon. "As long as we cut down on the math it'll all be worth it—"

"Hey, that math is for your own good," replied Cloyster.

"Well, I'm more senior than you in this group," retorted Charmeleon.

"Only by a few minutes," Cloyster retorted, then added, "and I'm your type-superior."

"Ha, you don't even have a single water-type attack—"

"I learned Surf by myself!"

"It isn't going to do you any good on land—"

"Well I have Aurora Beam, and as an ice attack it's close—"

"Babies, stop arguing," Ash intervened. "That does remind me… We're going to have to get you some water-type TM's." Immediately both debaters struck up poses of superiority, Charmeleon for proving its point and Cloyster for having been promised something to make him better.

"Quit it, I said. And look at this," said Ash, handing them a copy of the Saffron Sunrise (the Sunset's rival newspaper). The front-line news item was:

Free Trainer Tournament Aboard Maiden Voyage 

May 24th – Reported by Christina Taylor

Just days ago, construction of the SS. Anne was finished. Owned by Bolt Brothers Inc., headquartered in Vermillion City, the ship will transit between Vermillion and Cerulean City, taking a roundabout trip around Fuchsia Peninsula.

The cruise liner has a passenger capacity of 1,250. The roof is a large grass field for pokemon trainers to engage in matches on. Should the field be ruined in the course of competition, there are plenty of replacement grass hexagons in storage. The ship also sports a large swimming pool.

The SS. Anne is slated to set sail on her maiden voyage on the 14th of next month.

She should reach her destination by the 21st, after stopping by Fuchsia on the 16th, and Lavender on the 19th. The return trip is the 24th to 2nd.

Bolt Brothers Inc. has declared that, for this one occasion, it is offering tickets for free to any pokemon trainer who has obtained at least two badges. There are only a limited number of seats available, so those planning to participate should also plan to arrive early. In addition, trainers without at least two badges may also board, but with a reduced fare rather than free fare.

This is made possible by partnership with the Silph Corporation. Silph Co. is matching every quantity of potion that Bolt Brothers is spending for the matches. In addition, it is supplying the prizes.

In addition, those trainers with two badges can bring along their pokemon for a tournament.

There are a total of 1,024 slots available for this tournament. The first three rounds – the preliminaries – will be scored by a trio of judges on a rating of one to ten. The top 256 will be able to participate in the remainder of the tournament, elimination style.

Those who proceed into the semifinals will each obtain a 'trophy prize' courtesy of Silph Co. This trophy prize will be the same no matter how far contestants make it after that point.

Silph Co. has not said what the trophy prize actually is.

Currently the most likely idea is that the prizes are master balls, which are still in alpha stage development. Either this is not the case, or else the master ball has moved on to beta testing.

When confronted with this, Silph Co.'s public relations team failed to give reply.

Trainers who are interested should sign up at the Vermillion Port before the 12th if they want to be sure that they can make a reservation.

--

"A Society Ship! That's got to be good," said Cloyster.

"I've never been on one before, what's it like?" asked Charmeleon.

"Those are effectively cruise ships where nothing happens except parties."

"Partying all day!?"

"Hey, remember the work ethic here," inserted Ash.

"Right... Besides, we won't be able to attend, because we need two badges," added Cloyster.

"Well why not? I want to go! And Ash has got one badge already, all he needs is one more. He can't get one from Saffron, but from Vermillion he can!"

"You think taking on a Gym leader is some easy task like chopping firewood?"

"I think, I already _have_ two badges," Ash surprised them. "Remember the badge I got from Silph Co.? It's a Friend Emeritus badge. Guess from whom the Bolt Brothers are getting sponsorship? That's right, Silph Co."

"Uhh… You think those actually matter? I think the CEO isn't all that serious about it," said Cloyster.

"The CEO surely was grateful and sincere, and don't you forget that I'm an emotion pokemon," said Kirlia.

"We can give it a try… But it'll be a lot of effort. It had better be interesting."

"Well in this case something interesting is obviously going to happen," added Kirlia. "I'm interested; is anyone else?"

"Me!" said Cloyster and Charmeleon simultaneously.

"Jynx! You owe me a soda!—" said Kirlia.

"Babies!"

"I didn't even have to use my psychic abilities to predict that they'd want to come!"

"That settles it," agreed Ash. "We're going to Celadon City to get you all some nice TM's, and then we'll head on over southeast to Vermillion." Ash smiled when he saw the sparkles in their eyes.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Celadon City hadn't changed much in the past eight months. It was still the same size, the population didn't grow more than any other city did, the buildings hadn't changed much, and the department store to which he headed looked just the same as it did when Ash first set foot inside it the first time he came to the city. There were just as many customers on the bottom floor buying pokeballs and potions, there were just as many floors as before, they were in the same order, and each floor held the same TM's. Or Ash thought so, at any rate.

"That reminds me, I still haven't gotten around to using my poke-rod," Ash noted.

"Well, if you did get one you'll suddenly have to start from scratch teaching the pokemon you catch all the moves you've taught us," said the Cloyster. "Besides, I'm a water-type; what do you need a fishing rod for?"

"Good point," replied Ash. "Here Cloyster, let's go to your floor first…" Cloyster used one of its spikes to press the button for floor number 91. There were a few people about; evidently the demand for Cloyster Transformational Machines was significantly greater than one for Charmeleon. "Actually, they're all different!" exclaimed Ash. "On the other hand, I'm not particularly surprised… Many TM's from last year didn't seem like they had the potential to be popular… Let's see… TM01, which was Mega Punch, has become Focus Punch… TM03, Water Pulse. Come on!" They rushed off for the spot where it was.

"Here's the description," said Cloyster as it began to read. "It says, 'Enhances your Cloyster to make it fully capable of using Water Pulse, a move it will otherwise not learn naturally.' Obviously! 'Water Pulse is' – blah blah-blah blah, thanks but no thanks, I know what Water Pulse is, let's get it!"

"Wow, you're deciding?!"

"Yep!" replied Cloyster.

"All right! Just step inside that machine, and we can get started!" said Ash, swiping his debit card.

"Feeling like you're in the mood for shopping, eh?" asked Kirlia.

"Yep! Like, last time I was here I had only two grand. I'm over a hundred and fifty times richer now. So yeah, I think it's time to celebrate."

"All right, let's celebrate!" cheered Kirlia, jumping off Ash's shoulder and beginning to pirouette across the floor.

"Always leave it up to the girls to get carried away by dancing. You know what, Kirlia, I think you'll turn into a Gardevoir." Evidently Kirlia wasn't paying any attention, because it just kept on spinning and dancing ever so gracefully. Ash sat on the ground and watched it dance.

"What do you think?" said Cloyster, swaggering out of the Transformational Machine a few minutes later. It now sported what looked like a grey cannon – or a very wide pipe – instead of a spike near its front.

"Well let's give it a try," prodded Ash. The Cloyster turned to an empty wall on the far end, closed its bivalve shell, and fired. A pulsing orb of pristinely clear water shot out of the cannon-spike and struck on its mark, splashing violently upon impact. The water soon flooded over to them. Ash reached down and touched it. "Whoa, this is cold," he said suddenly, as Kirlia jumped back onto his shoulder. The Cloyster then proceeded to drink the water right back up, and the Charmeleon, trying to show that it was just as good as the Cloyster, bathed in the cold water.

"I wonder where the water came from?" Ash wondered, scratching the back of his head.

"That's a company secret," said a woman from far off. "Oh, and you got me wet."

"Sorry…"

"Hey look!" exclaimed Cloyster. Ash turned to see him looking at TM13. "This one's for Ice Beam! 'Enhances your Cloyster to make it fully capable of using Ice Beam, a move it will otherwise not learn naturally. Ice Beam is an ice-type ability whereby the pokemon sends out a beam of hyper-cold ice particles that quickly freeze surrounding water into ice… 4999.99 for one use.' We just have to get this one!" Of its own accord it had gone inside.

"The Cloyster is always right," said Kirlia. "Next thing you know it'll try it out and freeze us all solid. Oh yeah, and Charmeleon can come to the rescue, or something."

"Well, it hasn't gotten a chance to do that yet," said Ash. The TM worked with remarkable quietness.

A few minutes later the door opened, and Cloyster came out, this time with a peculiar appendage on a spike that protruded directly forward, as opposed to one of the larger ones off to its side. "You're done! Let's try—"

He didn't get to finish the sentence before looking on with surprise as the Cloyster froze Charmeleon in a block of ice. It melted off fairly quickly, however, especially when Charmeleon returned to its senses and sent out a flamethrower. The icy chill mixed with the water already all over the place to make Ash's legs quake and shiver.

"Bad Cloyster!" said Ash. "You could have put Charmeleon into hypothermia! You should be ashamed of yourself!" The Cloyster grinned slyly, then teetered down to another TM. Suddenly it went inside.

Ash followed. "What? Hmm… 'TM17, 'Enhances your Cloyster to make it fully capable of using Protect, a move it will otherwise not learn naturally. Protect is a normal-type ability whereby the Pokemon, for a while, fortifies its external skin or shell to make it nearly impervious to even powerful physical attacks… 4999.99 for one use.' Okay, but um… Cloyster, this is your third one already… You trying to turn me into a pauper?"

"You're the one who said you were in a spending mood," protested Kirlia.

"Gee, I didn't know you were on its side…" Shortly thereafter, Cloyster came out looking just as before. "All right, try it out!" Cloyster suddenly seemed to shrink a little bit as the shells rearranged and came together, forming a tougher barrier. "This one is the least dramatic of the three," noted Ash.

"It'll save you a lot of potions in the long run," commented Cloyster as it reopened its shell.

"Cloyster… You're going to have to think about getting skills that will come in handy against opponents that have the advantage against you. For example, those good against plant or electric types."

"Right… Let's see…" The team progressed down the aisle. "How about TM20, Safeguard? 'Enhances your Cloyster to make it fully capable of using Safeguard, a move it otherwise will not learn naturally. Safeguard is a normal-type ability whereby the pokemon creates a protective field that prevents certain elemental and special attacks from hitting… 4999.99 for one use.' I'm for it!" Ash was obliged to swipe his debit card.

"You know what, I think that Cloyster's getting carried away," remarked Charmeleon.

Ash laughed. "When he's done, it'll be your turn to get carried away, pal."

"All right Cloyster, let's see what you got!"

"Err… we don't have an electric type attack, so that'll have to wait until later," reminded Kirlia.

"Oh yeah… Cloyster, I think that'll be all for now," said Ash.

"What? But I was going to get Toxic, and Hidden Power, and you're so rich…"

Ash felt his insides melt. "Well, that's true, I _am _kind of rich," he muttered. At least he didn't want to appear poor to his pokemon team (even though they knew better anyway). Besides, if he wasn't going to spend his money, why get it to begin with?

"All right, we'll get you those two as well, but that's it," said Ash. And that's exactly what they did. After the Toxic TM, Cloyster came out with purple-tipped spikes laden with a certain reproducing poison that gradually became worse. And after the second… well, it was hidden, wasn't it? Though of course Ash knew that this one's description ran "…pokemon attacks a target with magic that can only take effect out of sight, devastating bulky, shielded enemies…" which meant that it was useful against such pokemon as Onix and Steelix, which would present an enormous difficulty to the team otherwise.

"Aww, I kind of wish we could get all the TM's offered, that would be cool!" mused Cloyster out loud in an attempt to get Ash to feel sorry.

"Yeah, we know, we know, but I'm no billionaire yet," Ash pointed out. "So now, let's get something for Kirlia."

"Umm, if you hadn't noticed, they did the disservice of not having a floor for me."

"Oh… I almost forgot, Kirlia, you're not native to Kanto, that's why. I'm sure there's a TM set for you in a town near where you came from."

"So then it's me!" said Charmeleon, pumping its chest and letting out a puff of smoke.

Ash chuckled. "All right then, it'll be you up next." After returning to the elevator, they went down to the fourth floor.

Charmeleon ran over to TM50. "It says, 'Enhances your Charmeleon to make it fully capable of using Overheat, a move it otherwise will not learn naturally. Overheat is a fire-type ability whereby the pokemon overheats fire, fighting, and normal type enemies, forcing them to take prolonged breaks… 4999.99 for one use.' Not a bad idea, I'd think…"

"Yeah, just imagine," said Ash as Charmeleon went into the machine.

"What next, Charmeleon?"

All said Charmeleon obtained four TM's and Cloyster six.

"Wow, you two have depleted my wallet," Ash said as they were descending to the first floor. Cloyster had just done the math and calculated that this little expedition had cost him a dear 52999.89 Kanto dollars after-tax. That left him with 257,550.03. "This has got to be the first day in the history of this company that a pokemon loaded up on six TM's in one go, Cloyster!"

"Yeah well it'll be worth it, you'll see! But not for Charmeleon!" challenged Cloyster. Charmeleon roared back, a most terrifying one except for its rather small size, and Cloyster simply closed up its shell and used Protect.

"Hmm… You know, Charmeleon, you'll get a lot more powerful just by metamorphosing!" goaded Ash.

"All in due time," replied Charmeleon, quite touchy about this subject since its body had kept deciding that it was too early to metamorphose into a Charizard.

Along the way Ash kept thinking about strategies to use with the new abilities that his pokemon had just obtained. It would add considerable variety to the now mundane training routine they underwent on a daily basis… ((TM11, Sunny Day… "…Creates convection currents to turn the nearby weather into a sunny day"… TM21, Frustration… "…Frustrates the enemy so much that the enemy becomes blind in its outrage"… TM42, Façade… "…Creates a facade of itself that decoys attacks"… I'll just have to sit down and think this through first…))


	24. Diametrically Opposed

**The Quest 24: Diametrically Opposed**

"And so, here we are at Vermillion," remarked Kirlia a bit languidly as they arrived at the city's gym.

"For your information, we entered town an hour—"

"For _your_ information, I knew what you were about to say before you even began saying it," Kirlia amicably cut Cloyster off.

"Well, should we give it a try, hmm?" asked Ash. The others quickly gave their assent – more accurately, Ash peered into their minds and discerned that they were all excited. Of course, they were all worried. Even after their successful fight against Team Rocket back at Silph Co., anxiety consumed them. A gym leader wasn't someone you could defeat so easily and then dismiss, particularly when they were match-oriented ones. Gyms like Sabrina's and Giovanni's were such match-oriented ones, whereas Erika's was not. It mattered a lot, because a gym leader was often the best in the entire town. Beating one in a _match_ really meant that you _were _something.

Because match-oriented gym leaders' pokemon were all in the high-80's or higher in maturity level, and far more experience – which was a lot more than the number might hint at. Not only did the constant life-at-risk theme mean that they matured incredibly quickly, but they had been at it for decades. Battle-preparedness wasn't the same thing as maturity, and for them it was obviously even greater. These were about the top hundred-odd pokemon in the world, militarily speaking. By comparison, Ash's pokemon, though already significantly above-average, were just that.

And enthusiastic though Ash and his team might be, none of them really expected to win this match.

"At least we had prepared," Charmeleon offered. "Maybe it's even a good thing I'm still not in my final form yet."

Ash didn't have a good reply in mind. Though it was true that Charizard, being a flyer, would be exceptionally weak against electric types, that only applied if the Charizard was actually mid-flight. Once it touched the ground such a temporary label would go away. Meanwhile, he really wanted his Charmeleon to evolve. Unless it was simply incapable of doing so, which was such a terrible thought Ash immediately dropped this line of reasoning.

On to another: This was the first gym he would be really challenging.

The Gym was large, but the entrance for trainers was not the same as the one for spectators.

"Hello! I see you're here to take on the Vermillion City Electric Gym Leader Lieutenant Surge! Welcome! I'm the professional gym introducer. This gym focuses on electric type pokemon, so I hope you have some pokemon that know tactics useful against them. Type advantages would help too! Though nothing beats solid, all-around experience! Lt. Surge has been gym leader for ten years and a trainer for thirty!"

"Thanks for the intro," muttered Ash. This was about the most disheartening 'introduction' he could receive. He picked up a pen and printed his name on the agenda. The fact that the wait list was incredibly short meant something about whom he would soon be facing.

"All right, come on in!" indicated the introducer. Ash found himself looking at an array of what looked like glass-lidded switches. "The entry to the arena up ahead is blocked by a digital lock. You will have to flip the right two switches if you want it to open. Every time you fail, however, the 'correct' switches will reset randomly. Good luck!"

"Well, I wonder what we should do?" asked Ash to his team as they walked in (good thing the first set of doors was a double, or else Cloyster couldn't even fit in). "Uhh… sir? Are we allowed to break down these doors?"

"Absolutely not!" chuckled the introducer. "Too many people have asked that question…"

_But there are thirty switches in this room, and that means only a 3 chance of success on any one try…Or I can try looking into someone's mind for the answer… except if it's random there won't be any mind to look into… Gosh, I might have better luck if I had an electric-type pokemon to help sort this out…_

"Okay then, let's do this!" said Ash to Kirlia, who jumped down. "Here's what we'll do: You go teleport around until you run into the right switch, and then I'll hit the first one. If we fail just start all over again. It'll be fastest that way." Kirlia nodded, then teleported, hitting switches one by one until Ash heard a chiming sound. Then he hit the switch right next to him. A winding-down sound was heard, which was _not _what he wanted. But after a few repeats (which didn't tire out Kirlia the slightest, teleportation being the first thing it had mastered), the switch Ash was next to became randomly the correct one. The door creased open.

"All right, we're in!"

As soon as Ash walked in he was confronted by a giant of a retired lieutenant. "Oh hey! You're a little to small to be playing with the big boys, aren't ya?" he asked.

"Well, looks can be deceiving," Ash replied with a smile. "Let's get started, shall we?"

"Hey, well if you put in the effort of finding the right switch, it's the least I can do, right? Okay then, so this is how the match goes. Winner is two out of three matches, which may be interrupted by visits to the poke-Center next door. With that said, go Minun!"

Ash had simultaneously thrown up his Charmeleon. The two faced off against each other on the arena, which was seriously in disarray from all the challengers' pokemon using moves like Dig and Earthquake to take advantage of type. Charmeleon started off attempting the feint that Ash had taught it about a month earlier. But the Minun wasn't distracted in the slightest. It released a violent burst of electricity just as Charmeleon had started rushing toward the cute mouse-pokemon. And the fire-type fell flat on its face, startled and evidently struck unconscious.

"Oh no!" cried Ash in dismay, rushing over to the poke-Center.

As always, his Charmeleon was soon fine again, and this town's Nurse Joy greeted him as cheerily as did those in all the other hospitals. But when he returned to the gym he had to go through the switches all over again. And he had to win the next two in succession to get the badge. It didn't sound very likely.

"Ah, so you're back," said Lt. Surge when Ash finally succeeded a second time.

"Yep, and this time I'll use my Cloyster," he said.

Lt. Surge chuckled. "Right, and forget everything you learned about type disadvantages? What level are your pokemon anyway?"

Ash was brimming with anger at having been thusly ridiculed. He knew his team was too. "Right then, well I'll show you! Go Cloyster!" he said, and Cloyster ambled up to the arena.

"Go Plusle!"

The moment it came out it sent out a ream of electricity. The fact that the ground was broken dirt and clay, and that Cloyster quickly spun like a drill into the ground, should have meant that the electricity would be diverted. But it wasn't, and upon striking the Cloyster it was electrocuted.

"Darn it! Return Cloyster!" said Ash, recalling his pokemon and rushing off for the poke-Center without a word to the gym leader who had so easily beaten him twice.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

It was June 14th. It was nearing prime time to for cruising season.

Ash had now finally arrived at his destination the Vermillion Port after having trekked to Celadon, then back to Saffron and then southward. The journey by foot would have only taken ten days, but he had been spending time training his pokemon on their new moves. After all, one couldn't simply enter the tournament with their pokemon loaded up on TM's and expect to win without getting them any practice. Now, his Cloyster could at least shoot a mark a hundred yards off quite accurately with its ice beams, and his pokemon team choreography had gotten better. With new abilities came new opportunities to take advantage of them, combining whenever necessary. For example, a head-on attack between Charmeleon's flamethrower and Cloyster's ice beam made for a potent flash-vaporization that generated so much steam it could toss them both backward…

He walked along the plank toward the waiting SS. Anne. His pokemon were all out and enjoying their first view of the coast in a long while (for Charmeleon, ever since they had left Pallet; for the others, Ash couldn't remember them even going to the seashore). Just like all the others. The trainers had all gotten their pokemon out, and both in front and behind him, people were chatting to each other about their pokemon exploits and other small talk.

"Hey Ash, wait up! Why do you always insist on leaving me behind?" asked a petite fourteen-year-old girl right behind him as she rushed up, pokemon recalled for the moment. Ash knew her name to be, of all things, April, and knew that she hadn't a single badge. Yet she was traveling for free, and all because of him, Ash. And now she was just a _pest_, following him so closely.

Flashback

Cloyster was saying, "are you _sure_ that your Friend Emeritus badge is worth anything?" when he and Ash approached the registration desk several days earlier.

"Hello there! What's your name?"

"Ash Ketchum from Pallet."

"Do you have at least two gym badges? Two badges and fare is free!"

"Yeah, um, I have this one," said Ash, extending his Rainbow Badge. The cashier checked it for genuineness, then handed it back. "And I also have this," said Ash, putting forth his Friend Emeritus card-key.

"Huh? What's that? Did a gym leader run out of badges?"

"Err… No…"

"Don't you have another gym badge?"

"No, I don't, but this is Silph Co.'s Friend Emeritus badge…"

"Strange, I've never seen it before…"

"It's rare. It means that I'm a friend of Silph Co."

"So? We can't let you on for free just because you have something rare…"

"Oh come on, you do realize that Silph Co. is sponsoring this tournament thing, right? I don't think your silver bowl is so stable you won't be fired if the CEO himself gets mad at you!"

"What?! Who do you think you are?" The two glared at each other.

"Meh, I'm going to have to check this one with the corporation then," said the cashier, backing down and taking up the phone. "Hello? This is a cashier from Bolt Brothers Inc., I need to know about your Friend Emeritus roster…"

Meanwhile, Ash's concentration was thrown off by shrieks of protest from a girl in the line next to him. Like Ash, she had black hair and pale skin. She was definitely more cute than pretty, and carried on her shoulder was a small leather purse. She looked familiar to Ash… like he had seen her a long time ago – in a mirror, perhaps? _But that's not right… _She evidently didn't have the two badges required either, since she was blabbering on and on about how costly even the 'reduced fare' was. Ash looked up at the board and noted that the reduced fare was 2,000.00. _Only _2,000 Kanto dollars. That was cheap… At least Ash thought so at the moment.

"…But I've just got to go! I can't pass up on this opportunity! I don't have two badges, but I have one, and that counts for something, right? Come on, just let me, pretty please with sugar on top?" she pleaded.

"Umm… No, I don't want to lose my job," resisted the cashier at the next line.

Ash could hear someone shout through his own cashier's phone, "…Ah yes, the only trainer Friend Emeritus is Ketchum, Ash, from Pallet Town, and if he's trying to come on this cruise line _you had better let him if you know what's good for ya_!"

The cashier was visibly taken aback. "Uh… Okay, I'll take your word for it…" He hung up and turned to Ash, a bit startled that the little youngster Ash was actually someone important. "It's been approved, you can go on the SS. Anne for free, even though you don't have the necessary badges," he said, sighing.

"See?" exclaimed the girl right next to him to her cashier. "He gets to go, and he doesn't have two badges! Why can't you let me go too!?" She was evidently making quite a fuss and not noticing that people around her were being embarrassed. Others' faces had gone redder than hers. She was evidently pretty darn immature…

"No, sorry, we can't do that," the man replied.

"Humph!" exclaimed Ash. "Let her go for free too."

"WHAT?! As if getting to go for free isn't enough for you?" exclaimed Ash's cashier.

Ash cocked a glance at him. "You really _do _want to lose your job, huh? Well then I'll make it easy for you," he threatened, reaching for the cashier's phone.

"Aargh! Okay, okay, you're the boss here," the cashier gave in, and prepared boarding passes for them.

Ash smiled, then pulled the girl over to his line, handing to her a boarding pass.

"That guy's going to make this company bankrupt," muttered the other cashier.

"Hey, shut your mouth if you don't want a dismissal letter coming your way," bluffed Ash. Turning to the girl: "What's your name?"

"I'm April from Violet City. And may I know your name?"

"Ash from Pallet Town."

"I just want you to know, Ash, that you're my hero."

End Flashback

_And that's how it all started,_ lamented Ash as he finally entered the cruise ship. People were milling about everywhere – Ash was pretty sure just about all the rooms would be filled – and many had already gotten around to swimming in the pool or sunbathing.

April grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him along ever so innocently. "Come on Ash, let's change into our bathing suits and relax by the pool!"

Ash resisted, which wasn't hard, since he was significantly stronger than she was. "I didn't come here to _relax_," he protested curtly and pulled in another direction.

"Oh come on, Ash, this is a cruise liner! Oh yeah, you want to join the competition. That doesn't start until evening. Until then let's go get a tan! Erm… What are you waiting for?"

"Go do what you want," said Ash abruptly as he twisted his arm out of April's grasp (which was just about the simplest thing in martial arts he had practiced). He had no desire to have his goals tied down by a total stranger. "Cloyster, you can go overboard and do some swimming in a _real _ocean for a change as opposed to the Saffron City swimming pool. Charmeleon, those cooks may need your help in the kitchen, and it'll be good practice for controlled fire. And Kirlia, how did the scanning go?"

"Hey, Ash!" exclaimed April indignantly. "What about me?"

"What about you?"

"Aren't we going to do something fun?"

Kirlia jumped off and landed right in front of April. "How about let's dance?"

April mused for a moment, then nodded sweetly, "okay, let's do that!"

Ash chuckled. At least now she wouldn't be distracting him. He stood on the sidelines, spreading out his psychic feelers to look for any threats – and especially any Team Rocket undercover agents.

After having scanned about a hundred of them he came across one such Team Rocket operative. From there, he delved into the man's mind and quickly conjured up mental images of what he looked like, as well as the other agents in this mission and their appearances as well. Ash snickered. Their plot, which was so evidently to win all four master ball trophies if possible, would soon be thwarted – and by a boy at that.

By now practically everyone had boarded. The PA. suddenly announced, "Welcome everyone to the SS. Anne's maiden voyage, and we hope you all will have a wonderful time aboard! To further make this a delight, make sure you know what the daily activities will be. You can find your complete schedules in your cabins. First up: those of you who have registered for the tournament, please come to the on-board poke-Center to draw lotteries for your first opponent. If you haven't been informed earlier, the first three rounds will be the preliminaries…"


	25. Not A Match Part 1

**The Quest 25: Not A Match Part 1**

Ash had finished drawing his first opponent and opened the door to his cabin when who did he find there but April. "Hey – What the heck do you think you're doing here!?"

"Huh? Oh Ash, it's you!"

"I repeat, what do you think you're doing here?"

"Waiting for you, of course!"

"Look, there's no reason for you to be like this, I did what I did back at the entrance booths because I wanted to get back at my own cashier. This is not about you at all. I got you your own ticket, and it comes with your own room. This is my room. Now get out!"

April made a sad face. "But why? Why oh why oh why?"

"Because I said so! I bet also that since I'm a VIP of Silph's, if you keep getting in my way those people will be eager to shove you right back off the ship to make room for someone who's actually paying."

"You wouldn't!"

"Oh yes I would! I'm not the nice-guy hero you think I am; I'm very mean and I very much like being alone. And I'm not chivalrous, either; I've killed four people in one day just this past month."

April gasped, bringing her hands up to her bosom in fright. "HUH!? You did WHAT?! You're -- you're a…"

"Hmm, first rule of survival is never to accuse a murderer of being one," said Ash with a smile. April was visibly on the verge of dashing out screaming. "Oh by the way let me also say that all four of them were Team Rocket thieves trying to steal the technology behind the master ball."

April was rooted to the spot and still unable to say anything. This was for her a sudden, shocking turn. She seemed to never have expected someone who had been so nice to her to have _killed _people…

"Afraid now, are you? So why don't you leave this cabin and let me be?"

"Y…you're not going to shoot me, are you? Or stab me, or—"

"Calm down, April! Do I look like I'm going to do that? Do I even have a weapon on me!?"

"Err… Good point…" said April, finally starting to relax.

"Hey, don't relax in my cabin! Get out and relax!"

"But… but… I'll be all alone by myself again, and just when I thought I had a traveling partner—"

"A WHAT!?" Ash jumped up and went right in her face, causing her to flinch. "Look here, lass, I _never _said anything about traveling with you. I only did you a small favor back earlier. Get that straight! I don't want anything else to do with you!" A stunned April backed up, looking visibly distraught. Kirlia had by now teleported out of the room, not wanting to get any more negative vibes from the argument.

"You… you don't like me, do you? I'm too chatty, aren't I? Or is it because I'm immature, like my brother said?"

"No, no, no!"

"Oh I get it, I'm just too ugly for you!" and she turned away from him, wiping away tears that were suddenly brimming. Ash was getting quite distraught himself from this outburst…

"That's not it at all! April, you're none of that! And you're prettier than most girls I've seen so far, and I've seen a lot of them lately!"

April turned around excitedly, hurriedly wiping off her tears with her arm. "Then I'm all right?"

"Yes you're all right—er…" Ash realized his slip-up, but it was too late.

April was leaping for joy and the next moment was hugging Ash. "all right then, it's decided, we travel together!"

"Aargh! I never agreed to _that!_" Ash pushed her back, and stomped off. Bad idea, it occurred to Ash, when he turned around to find April lying blissfully on his bed. _She sure is cute… But, Aargh! She's so annoying! And it isn't like I have a big task in front of me, something that only those that aren't weak of heart can do… What I'm doing is a man's job, not a girl's… _

"Ash, stop being so stubborn," protested April, standing up.

"What, _me_ stubborn!? That's it! You _are _chatty! Now get out!"

"You!"

"All right I will!" Ash trampled his way out of the room. "Wait a minute… _This is my room YOU GET OUT!!"_

April crossed her arms. "Nope. Unless you can beat me in a pokemon match and force me to run off to get them treated, you can't."

"Why you…" The next moment April gasped in fearful surprise as Ash grabbed her by the wrists and pulled her arms behind her back, hand-cuff style. April struggled but couldn't get free, and signs of fear were starting to creep back up. "All right, you're under arrest for disturbing the peace." He pushed April right out of the room, then followed with a shove that sent her flat onto the hallway. Several people from far off looked up in surprise, and Ash blanched.

"April… You brought this on yourself. Remember: this is _my_ room, and I _don't ever want to see your face again_!" He returned to his cabin and slammed the door shut.

Several minutes passed. Ash sighed for the umpteenth time as he heard April still right outside his cabin door, crying and wailing to herself. "…why am I so cursed with having to travel on this journey all by myself? The moment I saw him, I thought he would be a fine traveling companion, for he was of such a high status and he cared about me… That has never happened before! And now… I don't want to believe it, but it seems I was wrong about him… He's just yet another stuck-up, aloof important guy…" And then she burst out into renewed tears.

Ash pulled the pillows up to his ears. _This is intolerable! Why hasn't anyone come along and dragged her off!? Right, they're all aboveboard partying. And me? Well with her at the door I can't even get out without tripping over her and getting her to come after me, can I? This is just another reason why I shouldn't ever help strangers… Next thing I know they'll be listening to her sorry voice and dragging me off the ship instead for being 'stuck-up'. If only she would quit bothering me!_

_Sabrina was totally wrong, as wrong as any psychic could possibly be. Me and her getting together? More like we're total opposites! I don't ever remember talking this much to people as she is, and I still have a quest to accomplish! _

_Okay, I can't go on like this. That girl will have no end of crying, and come nightfall I won't even be able to sleep. I'm outta here. If she wants to follow, well I'll just act like she doesn't exist. _

Ash got up and opened his cabin door. Indeed, April was right beside the door, just sitting there so despondently. Ash stepped over her and proceeded to walk down the corridor. But he didn't get very far.

"Oh, well, at least his ego isn't big enough to let him step on me," muttered April to herself but loud enough for Ash to hear.

Ash through up his hands in disgust. "What the heck was that about? April, I _told _you, leave me alone!" ((Kirlia, where are you?))

((I'm beside the elevators.))

((All right I'm coming.)) Ash resumed walking, but April followed right after him. "Now what?" he said angrily.

"I just want to be friends," said April softly.

Ash sighed, pondering what to say. "Fine, but on one condition: you leave me alone."

"Hey, that's not called being friends," April retorted.

"What-_ever,_" said Ash, not even bothering to look at her as he found his Kirlia by the elevator, dancing. Immediately it sensed their displeasure and stopped dancing, to teleport on Ash's shoulder.

"Okay, I promise I won't bother you that much from now on, okay?" said April, entering the same cage as he did as they proceeded to the deck.

"Good!" said Ash as he looked at his watch. It was past 5:00 in the afternoon. _Time to get some food. Then the tournament will begin!_ The moment he thought of dinner he quickly became progressively hungrier. _On second thought… next time I shouldn't think about food… oops, just did it again._

"All right, let's go get some food," said April, leading the way as she skipped over to the on-deck restaurant. Ash was about to protest, but then decided that he just _had _to eat anyway. So he choose a table and sat down, releasing his Charmeleon and Cloyster. The moment the latter came out and realized his surroundings, he used his head spike to poke the button in the pokeball and vanished within it. Evidently Cloyster didn't even want to try restaurant food. On the other hand, Charmeleon had already marked out five menu items.

"Whoa! Take it slow," said Ash.

"It's okay, I'll foot its bill," said April, sitting down opposite him and taking him by surprise yet again.

"What the… _still _following me around?! I guess I've just got darned luck," muttered Ash. "How much money do you have with you anyway?"

"I'm down to 14,000.00 now," replied April as she called a waiter over.

"You know, five dishes is going to cost 350.00 Kanto dollars," warned Ash.

"As long as it makes you happy, I'm willing," she replied.

Ash didn't know what to make of that. It didn't strike him as being the annoying, pest type to be acting in this manner. She wasn't asking for him to foot the bill; it was the other way around. _Oh, that's awful nice of her to offer that. But I can't have her foot the bill, because then I'll be indebted to her and then she'll have one more reason to follow me around everywhere._

"Charmeleon's _my _pokemon, so I'll be footing the bill on this one," decided Ash. _Besides, she hasn't got a tenth as much money as I do. And it just wouldn't be right anyway. _And it also occurred to Ash that this was getting awfully similar to the 'date' that Sabrina had predicted. _If I foot the bill for her, she'll stick around so that she could have an opportunity to 'repay the debt'. As another excuse. I can't let her have it. _"But you can pay your own bill. We're doing this separately," said Ash.

"Aww, why can't we—?"

"No, final answer," interrupted Ash. "Ah yes, I'll have an omelet and a bacon cheeseburger," he told the waiter, coolly handing over the menu in the process. Charmeleon's list had gotten to a worrisome six menu items.

"I think I'll forgo ordering additional food," said Kirlia. "Charmeleon may be hungry now, but I know how much it can eat, so I'll just wait to get the leftovers."

"Oh, that's very considerate of you," complimented Ash.

"And I'll get an omelet and a bacon cheeseburger," said April. Ash's eyes went wide. _What's she playing at? _"Change my order to fish fillet and nachos," he said abruptly. The shining glimmer in April's eyes vanished.

_I think she's trying to court me, _thought Ash. _Oh, that's just plain stupid. Whoever heard of a girl doing that? I… I just really don't get it. There are like… three hundred other boys on this ship; why does she have to stick to me? I guess I really shouldn't have played the VIP trump card… Not that I had any alternatives, though…_

Soon after the food was delivered, April said, "If you're wondering about my order, that's actually the food I want to eat, so no, I wasn't just mimicking you; I think we really do like the same foods!"

Ash retorted a bit unpleasantly, "well, my first order was to test if you'll copy me; I don't like that food at all."

April's eyes flashed with anger and she abruptly stood up, taking the plates in hand. "That's it! I've had enough trouble lately, without having to try to impress a snob like you! Good bye!" She marched off to sit at a distant table.

_Well now, THAT was unexpected,_ thought Ash.

((I'd have thought that April really liked you,)) communicated Kirlia. ((But by the looks of it I'm right after all!))

((Well, thank goodness you're right, at least she's not pestering _me_ any more,)) noted Ash, quite relieved at last.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"And now, for our first match of the evening! It's…" announced the commentator. Ash was smiling absent-mindedly, content from having had a wonderful meal. On his shoulder sat Kirlia, as always. Around him sat hundreds of members of the audience, most of whom had their own pokemon stored and ready to go when it was their turn. Land was already out of sight, and the SS. Anne was cruising along without a hitch. The golden sun was starting to sink from the sky, illuminating the placid waters in front of the ship all tangerine and violet.

They were on the roof, where a sizeable arena had been set up. In the field in the middle, hexagons of sod-grass had been arranged into an interlocking pattern, beneath which was a significant amount of dirt. Two trainers stood at the near and far end of the field, pokeball in hand and looking confidently at their opponents.

"And now, for the rules. The preliminary rounds are three, and will take up four of the five days of this trip. Which trainer is green or red depends on their registration number, not expected results. These matches will be 1-on-1. In each match, two trainers are allowed to use only one pokemon against one of their opponent's, not against the opponent directly. Trainers are not allowed to alternate between pokemon at any time during the match. At the end of each round trainers and their pokemon will be ranked by a panel of three judges on a scale of one to ten each. Those 256 trainers with the highest combined ranks – out of a maximum of 90 – and who have won at least two matches - will be allowed to progress into the eight elimination rounds. In the elimination rounds, trainers are allowed to use up to the standard six sanctioned by the League. Although the winner is the trainer whose pokemon are all defeated first, trainers will not have to leave the field when a pokemon is in dire trouble. Our handy squad of nurses will take care of those pokemon for you, so that you may concentrate on the match at hand. With that said, let the match begin!" The crowd cheered in anticipation.

Ash took out his notebook (the same one he had used back at Saffron) and took copious notes once again. Not that this time he knew a lot of material before he had to write them down, since he had spent his time wisely studying pokemon tactics. And the time passed by quickly, occasionally interrupted by the cheers of the crowd.

Two hours later, it was April's first preliminary. PA: "All right folks, let's give it up for the green trainer, James of Saffron City, and red trainer, April of Violet Town!" Ash finally caught a glimpse of April as she went down to the arena. "And now, let the match begin!"

"Go Quilava!" shouted April, throwing the ball really high and far into the air. Ash knew that to be a dog-like pokemon that had a blue back and tan chest from whose forehead and rear came intensely heated, flaming quills.

"Well in that case, go Totodile!" said the opponent as he threw his pokeball. It materialized first, into an alligator-like water pokemon, except that it walked erect. It glared at its opponent's trainer, sure that the Quilava would stand no match.

From the other pokeball came a Pachirisu.

As soon as it came out, the cute white electric-cat pokemon released a wave of electricity that immediately paralyzed its tougher-looking but type-disadvantaged opponent. "Yeah, that's it!" shouted April excitedly. Before the smugness had been swiped off the opposing trainer's face, Pachirisu had followed up with a powerful electric discharge.

_Ah, that's neat! Tricking the opponent into using the wrong pokemon type to face off against yours… then taking advantage of their unprepared-ness,_ mused Ash. Even though April was a bother, this match might just be enough to compensate.

"Damn it!" cursed the opposing trainer upon losing so quickly and unexpectedly. "That was tricky of you, but it won't last long!" But the judges were delighted and gave a combined score of 26.

April's second match was an hour later. PA: "And now let us welcome green trainer April of Violet Town, who won with a stunning switch from Quilava to Pachirisu, and red…" Well, that reminded the audience of what April had pulled the first time. Not that the other trainer was wont to forget anyway…

Each held a pokeball in hand as they approached the arena, challenging each other to go first. "Don't think I'll be as big a fool as your previous opponent," warned the opposing trainer.

"Enough of that; time to what you'll use against my Gastly!" April replied, snickering.

"Hmm… I see what you're up to. No tricking me this time! Go Fearow!"

Both trainers threw out their pokeballs. Out of one, the Fearow as it took to the air. Out of the other… Pachirisu again. It let out a bolt of electricity which struck right on target. The Fearow simply fell out of the air.

The crowd went wild cheering.

_Once again!_ Exclaimed Ash to himself. _April's a tricky one right there. By saying she was going to use a ghost-type – which is weak to normal-type – she made her opponent think she was actually going to use a fighting type! So the opponent's counter of a flying type meant that her Pachirisu would score another victory…_

"Aargh!" roared the opponent angrily. Ash could tell that the man was no longer keeping his cool. "Why the heck does that keep happening!?" he shouted as he flailed wildly.

PA: "And the match goes to the green trainer!" The judges raised a 9, a 9, and a 10…

As the nurses took care of the defeated trainer's pokemon, a wide-eyed, euphoric April stepped out of the arena, Pachirisu cuddled in her arms. She stopped by Ash's side. "Well, what do you think?"

"Meh… It was good," he replied curtly.


End file.
